You Shouldn't Judge A Book By Its Cover
by xsarahskankx
Summary: AH. In college,Bella HATES Edward Cullen and refuses to even give him a chance to change that, regardless of what her brother Emmett says. When one of Edward's friends accidentally pushes him into Bella forcing them to speak, will a relationship ensue?
1. Chapter 1

Alright, So this story was originally started by dreamskribbler. However, after thirteen chapters she became too busy due to school, and decided to hand the story off to me. So, for these first thirteen chapters they are the lovely work of dreamskribbler (There will be a link to her in my profile, asap)

ch.1

Is this class ever going to end? I swear Tuesdays are the worst. It is bad enough that I am stuck in this God awful World-Civ class that lasts almost two hours taught by a professor that defines teaching as reading the power point slides to us, but it is only made worse because _he_ is in this class too.

I cannot stand Edward Cullen. He is the most selfish, egotistical, gorgeous-in the way that he knows, and flaunts it- jock I have ever seen in my entire life. I cannot stand the way he just casually strides around campus with his own personal flock of girls who follow him around like lost puppies. And what does he do? He pretends he doesn't even notice, he acts like they don't exist. He probably thinks that no girl short of a super model is worthy enough to be seen in public with him.

I don't just hate him for things that don't technically relate to me. One time when I went to pick up my brother Emmett from a party that he and the rest of the football team were attending, Edward Cullen made the most disgusted look I have ever seen when he saw my truck, and I do NOT take well to people offending my truck. I am so sorry Mr. Cullen, not all of us can drive shiny Volvo's like you…Jerk. Ugh…He makes me sick.

Emmett gets on my case a lot because I never actually "gave Edward a chance." Ok, so I have never actually "met" him, why bother? I have seen all I need to. Not that I don't think that he is the most attractive person I will ever see in person for as long as I live, but I really feel no need to meet him. Emmett thinks if I do I would "really like him." HA. NO. Sorry Emmett, you may be best friends with the guy, but that doesn't mean I have to be too.

I looked over at the clock at the wall. 1:15…ugh…wasn't it just 1:20? Is time going backwards?

I decided to scan the classroom to see what my fellow classmates were doing, since I had already printed my notes and read the chapter leaving me with no reason to be listening to Dr. Derham's lecture.

I sat near the back by the door, so I could make a quick get away, so I could see most of the class. In the front were the few people participating in class, asking questions, taking notes, writing down every word that came out of the professor's mouth. I could not imagine working that hard for just one class. A few people had their computers with them, most of them were on the internet, on various web pages. Some were checking on items they had purchased online, some looking at someone's profile on one of those networking sites, and of course there were some guys looking at some…well…lets just call it male entertainment sites. Some of the other people were reading books, like my best friend Angela, she had just gotten addicted so this series about vampires, others were sleeping. Over in the right corner is where _he_ sat with Emmett. Emmett was struggling to keep his eyes open, while Edward looked genuinely interested in every word the professor was saying. Of course they didn't sit alone; they were surrounded on all sides by their entourage of girls, who were alternating their stares between the two boys. Gag.

I couldn't help but find myself glaring at the back of Edward's strange messy brown hair, didn't he own a hair brush? Or was he just too lazy in the morning?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, and this story line originally belongs to dreamscribbler (link in profile). Again, if you missed the last A/N above the story, dreamscribbler wrote chapters one through thirteen.

"Hasn't anyone ever taught you that it's not polite to stare?" a deep voice breathed in my ear. His voice sent a chill down my spine. I slowly turned my head to see who had mental lecturing of Edward's possible daily routine. When I saw who it was my breath caught.

James Hunter. Now, if Edward is the most attractive person in the world, James is a very close second, and unlike Edward I think I would LOVE to get to know him. There was just something mysterious about him, he seemed like a bit of a trouble maker though, maybe that was what was so intriguing. James had long blonde hair that was always pulled back at his neck and dark brown eyes that just pulled you in. I had never in my life had the courage to speak to him, which suited Emmett just fine.

Emmett always hated my fascination with James, probably because he hated James. But he could never answer why, he would always just answer "I just do, he's trouble, stay away from him." This would of course cause me to roll my eyes. I couldn't help it if I smiled whenever he had some smart comment to make just loud enough so the class would hear but the professor wouldn't, or when he would argue relentlessly with Dr. Derham over some speculation over the lost city of Atlantis (which happened to be Derham's favorite subject.)

Now James's beautiful eyes were looking intently at my own, and I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks as I tried to remember how to speak. "I wasn't staring."

He smiled and leaned in closer, now just inches away from my face, he reached up with his right hand and brushed a piece of my hair away from my face to behind my ear slowly. I had to focus all of my energy on not shaking.

"Does that mean you _haven't_ joined the Edward Cullen fan club?" he whispered raising one eyebrow and tilting his head to the side.

My heart would have sped up if it weren't for the mentioning of _his_ name. I felt my eyes narrowing and my jaw clenching, and James let out a low chuckle.

"Now THAT reaction I like." He brought his lips to my ear, "I would hate to think I had lost you to him before I even worked up the nerve to say hello."

Then suddenly he was standing and picking up his bag. He leaned down over my desk one more time "I guess I will see you on Thursday." He took my left hand and gently kissed it, winked at me then turned and left the room, leaving me speechless.

What just happened?


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, and this story line originally belongs to dreamscribbler (link in profile). Again, if you missed the last A/N above the story, dreamscribbler wrote chapters one through thirteen.

I am so glad you guys like the story so far! I have been working on it a lot today cause I didn't have work, but unfortunatly I wont have off again for a while but I will try my best to update again asap! I hope you continue to enjoy!!

I sat in my desk in a daze expecting to wake up any second

I sat in my desk in a daze expecting to wake up any second. I knew class was over, I knew I should get up, but I knew that there was no way that James Hunter just acknowledged my existence, or whispered in my ear, or pressed his lips to my hand.

I watched as my classmates pushed past each other out the door all in a rush to be the next out into the pouring rain, which I guess was better than this class. All of a sudden my world was shaking roughly…or at least my desk was. Emmett had kicked my desk to break me out of my daze.

"What the hell was that all about?" he said glaring at me.

I tried to think, if it were really all just a dream, the minor earthquake I just experienced would have been sure to wake me up, That really happened? "What?"

"How many times do I have to tell you to stay away from that creep?" he whined. How could anyone call someone who looked so beautiful a creep? I threw all my stuff in my bag and headed out the door not in the mood to argue. I was suddenly having an amazing day. Not that I really believed that any of it was real.

Emmett had to run to the other side of campus for his next campus so he couldn't continue to lecture me about how "my new-found friendship was a bad idea." I headed off to the campus café so I could get myself a caramel mocha to enjoy in the solarium while I started reading Wuthering Heights again.

Today seemed to be my lucky day because there was no one waiting in line when I got to the café and Jake was working. "Hey Bella!" he greeted me cheerfully which automatically put a smile on my face. He was one of those contagiously happy people, even though it was awkward sometimes because I knew he had a major crush on me. Jake and I had grown up together and he had always liked me, but I have always thought of him as a brother, which he finds really hard to accept.

"Hey Jake, you know what I want, can you make it a large and extra hot, I need it to last a while" I asked. I came in everyday asking for the same thing, usually a small, but today I was going to splurge. I didn't have another class for two hours and I was going to enjoy every minute of my free time.

"Anything for you Bella." Any other day I would have narrowed my eyes at him, but I was still replaying James's words in my head, 'I would hate to think I had lost you to him before I even worked up the nerve to say hello.' Yeah, like _he _would need to work up the nerve to talk to _me_. I realized Jake was talking to me and I immediately zoned back into the conversation

"…on top this time or would you like me to just stick it in?"

"JACOB BLACK WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?" I felt my face redden as I tried to figure out what he meant by that statement.

"I said would you like the chocolate stick on top this time or would you like to stick it in." he repeated looking confused yet very fascinated, "what did you think I said?"

I could feel my reddening deeper, if I was just paying attention I would not have made a complete idiot out of myself, "nothing Jake, I only heard the end and it…didn't sound right, I don't want a chocolate stick, just a lid." I could tell he was trying to contain a smile, and failed miserably, as he popped a lid on my drink and slid it over to me.

"Have a good day Bella."

"You too, Jake."

From the Café I took my normal route to the solarium, my normal relaxing study spot where I found a comfortable seat and settled myself down into it.

I loved the solarium for one main reason, it looked like you were outside, and it could never rain in there. There were trees growing in from the ground, and waterfalls, yet there was no dirt to get all over your shoes, and no mud to slip in. It was perfect.

I set my drink down on the arm of the chair, it was thick so I didn't have to worry about it falling over, and grabbed my bag. I took out my Ipod and my copy of Wuthering Heights, which I admit, has seen much better days, the poor thing looked like if you breathed on it the wrong way it would disintegrate.

As I unrolled my headphones they grazed my hand where just minutes before James had pressed his lips to it. And I couldn't help but smile. Ugh…I could be such a girl sometimes.

I put in my headphones and set the first song to play, Clair de Lune, took a deep breath and opened my book.

I decided to take the first sip of my drink so the caffeine could start kicking in while I read. I carefully grabbed the cup, I knew I wasn't the most graceful person in the world so ordering an extra hot drink was always a hazard, I slowly brought it to my lips with great success, I could never get over how good the first sip of a caramel mocha tasted.

The next thing I heard was, "What the?", and I felt a hard body crash against me, and piping hot liquid poured all over the front of me. The body quickly jumped up at the heat, but then slipped and fell back on top of me but then got up again and turned to find out who he or she landed on, I took that opportunity to find out who had completely ruined what was only twenty minutes ago the best day of my life.

"I am so sorry, are you ok?" he said. _Of course…Edward Cullen._ DO I LOOK LIKE I AM OK? I wanted to say it but I honestly couldn't speak, I was ninety nine percent sure I had third degree burns on my chest and I was also sure if I said anything I was going to flip out on him for ruining my day. I really just wanted him to leave me alone, what more damage could he do? "You should probably get that shirt off."

Before I could stop myself I found myself glaring at him. "I mean you should put another one on, not just…I didn't mean…I…" blush crept onto his face as he stumbled for the right words, clearly embarrassed, and I swear my face betrayed me when I felt myself smile. I immediately wiped my face clear of emotion 'I hate him, that wasn't cute' I told myself.

"Please let me buy you a shirt to wear for the rest of the day, and let me replace your drink and your book. I feel horrible for falling into you." He asked when he realized I was not about to rip his head off for asking me to take my clothes off. He had looked straight into my eyes with his and I found myself getting lost, I almost didn't comprehend what he said, but then I suddenly realized he said "book,"

"My book?" I looked down, and my eyes got wide. It was destroyed. Not only was it covered in hot coffee but when Edward had gotten up the first time he had apparently stepped on it and slipped ripping out a chunk of pages and destroying what was left of the binding. I just sat there staring at the remains of my favorite book. I could feel tears gathering in my eyes.

"I am really sorry." He said softly, touching my arm. He touched it gently but it felt odd, like there was an electric shock, and he quickly pulled back his hand and my head shot up to look at him. He looked as confused as I felt. "Come on, I will replace your stuff."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, and this story line originally belongs to dreamscribbler (link in profile). Again, if you missed the last A/N above the story, dreamscribbler wrote chapters one through thirteen.

EPOV (there wont be many from his pov but I figured it was easier to explain how he fell into Bella later if you were there when it happened...lol)

Have you ever gotten the feeling that someone was staring at you? I tended to get that feeling a lot being best friends with Emmett Swan. Girls practically tripped over themselves to get to him, it was kind of pathetic but he loved every second of it. Some of the girls even thought that by following me around they would gain access to him, but all that did was totally freak me out.

Usually when girls stare at me I don't pay much attention to it, I normally don't even notice it, except when _she_ does. _Bella Swan_.

For the life of me I don't know why, but I could always feel when she looked at me. My skin would start to tingle, not in a bad way, not that her looks were ever friendly ones.

To my knowledge I have never done anything to offend her. Heck, I don't think I have managed to say two words to her. If she is around when I walk up to Emmett she immediately leaves, and she never sits near me in class. It's like she purposely avoids making contact with me.

I was trying to concentrate on what Dr. Derham was saying about underwater roads, but this particular look I was feeling from Bella was lasting a while and I decided to see if maybe, just maybe, it was a smile instead if a glare.

I turned my head passed Emmett, he was sleeping with his head held up by his hand, any second his arm would slip off the desk causing his head to hit the desk, I then turned passed a group of giggling girls, all watching Emmett sleep, and on to Bella.

I expected to see her just averting her narrowed eyes, but instead she was looking straight ahead as if surprised. It wasn't me who surprised her either. I realized there was someone on the other side of her. He was close to her. Too close.

When I realized who the guy that was now whispering in Bella's ear was, my hands balled up into fists. James Hunter. I wanted to storm over there and demand that he keep his filthy hands off of her.

I wasn't jealous, I mean I don't even know her, I just knew that he was not the kind of guy that deserved to be anywhere near a girl as beautiful as Bella Swan…ok, maybe I was a little jealous.

I needed something to end this interaction I was seeing, I knew Emmett hated James as much as I did and it would be much more appropriate for him to interfere than if I did. I pushed his elbow off his desk making his head fall almost hitting the desk as I predicted earlier. Luckily for me though he caught himself right before he hit the desk and automatically looked at me angrily for an explanation.

Silently I nodded towards Bella, signifying that he should look that way. He looked really confused but looked anyway. The second his eyes saw James's hand caressing Bella's cheek his confusion turned to anger.

"How many times do I have to tell her to stay away from him?" he growled, then he looked at me, "Thanks for pointing that out, I guess it pays that my best friend has the hots for my sister sometimes."

I could feel my face turning red almost immediately, "I DO NOT" I said in a low but stern voice.

"That's not what you say when you're drunk," he said with a smile, but the smile didn't last as he glanced back at his sister.

Apparently I have a big mouth when I am drunk, and I admit that I find her very attractive, or my exact words were, as he never lets me forget, "the most beautiful girl in existence", but what sane guy (minus Emmett for obvious reasons) wouldn't. Apparently one night I followed Emmett out when she came to pick him up from a party and after seeing her truck decided that I was going to give her my Volvo because it would be better for her than a beaten up old truck. I have my doubts about that story though, I love my Volvo, and I doubt I would offer to just give it away, even to Bella.

Emmett was always weird about my "feelings" towards Bella. He always tells me that she would love it if I came over to his dad's house for one of their family dinners, or that I should go talk to her, or ask her out. The fact that he is always smiling and laughing when he says this is the first sign that something is not right.

Class ended and I knew Emmett wanted to talk to Bella so I said bye to him and went off to meet Jasper.

* * *

Jasper had asked me to go with him to the solarium to meet some girl he had been talking to on the internet. Apparently she goes to school here and they met in some online help chat for some political science class and ended up chatting all night, then all day, then for a week. Now he was meeting her, and he was a nervous wreck, he didn't even know her real name, or what she looked like, they had decided to wait until they met in person so that it could be like a normal meeting, but she told him exactly where she would be sitting and what time to meet her there.

Jasper was afraid that she would see him and freak out or pretend that she wasn't who he was looking for. I think he really liked this girl, he had never put much thought towards how others would react to him and now he was second guessing everything, down to his outfit. He sounded like a girl every time he asked me how he looked and we got many odd looks from people passing by.

I tried my best to calm him down, even though he was much better at doing that for others than I was for him. Then when the time came we headed into the solarium. The plan was that I would pretend to be asking him a question while he glanced over to her location to see if she was there if she was and it was a "go" he tells him he has to go, I thank him and walk away, if it is a "no go" he says "shit its Tuesday isn't it, I have a paper that I forgot to write due in two hours." And we both leave."

I tried to keep an eye on Jasper while we walked through the solarium, to see if he was going to bolt. When we had gotten to about the middle of the room I realized from the look on his face that he had seen her, he looked dazed for a second, then smiled. I decided it was safe for me to look so I went to look in the direction he was staring.

Then all of a sudden he pushed me, or more like rammed me with his shoulder and took off. "What the…"

I fell on top of someone, and I felt like they poured boiling water down my back and I jumped up. Unfortunately my foot did not land on the floor, it landed on something slippery, paper, maybe a book? I don't know, but I fell back on whoever was in the seat. I quickly got up, making sure not to step on whatever I stepped on the first time, then turned to find out who I had just crushed twice. And when I saw her face, my heart stopped.

God, please tell me I am having a nightmare and did not just make an ass of myself in front of…scratch that...TO Bella Swan.

"I am so sorry, are you ok?" I managed to say, as I realized that the boiling water feeling was a really hot coffee drink that she was drinking that I managed to spill all over her, destroying her shirt. Hopefully I didn't burn her, I would feel horrible. That drink was way too hot, and her shirt was soaked, it couldn't be good for any burns she may have gotten. "You should probably get that shirt off."

All of a sudden she looked up giving me the most hateful look I had ever received in my life, and I realized what I said. GAH, I am such an idiot, "I mean you should put another one on, not just…I didn't mean…I…" blush crept onto my face as I stumbled for the right words, I was so embarrassed. Here I am finally talking to Bella and I tell her to take her shirt off. Way to go. I really need to think before I speak. I glanced down and noticed what I stepped on the second time I fell; it was a book, Wuthering Heights. I destroyed it. It was covered in coffee and ripped apart. She was going to kill me.

I finally looked back up at her, and there was a smile on her face, only for a second, but I would swear I saw it. It gave me hope that she wasn't about to storm off and back to avoiding me for life. Maybe I would have a chance to make her like me, even though I was off to a horrible start.

I took the opportunity to look into her eyes which were somewhat friendly for the first time ever, she had amazing eyes, "Please let me buy you a shirt to wear for the rest of the day, and let me replace your drink and your book. I feel horrible for falling into you."

She seemed to just stare back at me for a second which I didn't mind, the tingle I always felt when she looked at me started to build, then she seemed to realize something and finally spoke, "My book?" She looked down, and her eyes got wide. She realized that it was destroyed, and her beautiful eyes started to fill with tears. I felt a pang in my chest. I didn't want to be the reason that she cried.

"I am really sorry." I said softly, touching her arm. I touched it gently but it felt odd, like there was a shock, not like static, but something more, and I quickly pulled back my hand and her head shot up to look at me. She looked just as confused as I felt. "Come on, I will replace your stuff."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, and this story line originally belongs to dreamscribbler (link in profile). Again, if you missed the last A/N above the story, dreamscribbler wrote chapters one through thirteen.

I wrapped my headphones around my Ipod trying to calm myself down. My chest was hurting really bad from my mocha, so I pulled the wet fabric of my shirt away from my skin. Edward took on the task of picking up what was once my book and disposing of it. I was trying to stay calm and reasonable. It was an accident right? He didn't mean to trip and ruin my entire day...but I am the first to admit that I am stubborn.

I finally got up and we headed to the bookstore.

"So," he said casually. "Book or shirt first."

"Book." I answered. I know it is crazy but I was really more upset about the book being ruined than I was about the pain I was in, and I wanted that replaced first. To his credit, he didn't question me.

We walked straight to the fiction section and they had two copies of Wuthering Heights left, a generic paperback, and a special limited edition. I grabbed the paperback while Edward grabbed the more expensive one.

"This one is cheaper." I said dryly.

"This one is nicer." He replied.

"It's the same story; there is no reason to spend the extra money."

I went to walk away but he swiped the book from me. I turned back toward him. Was he really trying to test my patience?

"I ruined your book, and I would like to spend the few extra bucks to get the nicer more durable version to make up for it."

"A _few?_ That version is like forty dollars, this one is seven." He just shrugged like it was only a dollar difference... Of course, I forgot, he was also rich wasn't he. Time for him to flaunt the money. UGH. "Whatever" I mumbled and took off towards the stairs that led to the clothing section of the bookstore.

I was now determined to find the cheapest shirt they sold that would also allow the burn I was sure I had to breathe. I quickly found a discount rack full of polos that were only five dollars, take that Edward Cullen. I grabbed a light blue one and went to find Edward.

He was looking at some car decals with his back towards me and I realized that he had a huge coffee stain on his shirt.

"Aren't you going to get a shirt?" I asked.

"No, why would I? I was only replacing your ruined one, not shopping for myself."

"Well your shirt is ruined too."

He looked down the front of his shirt then tried desperately to turn his head around backwards (unsuccessfully), to see the back of his shirt. He was pulling at his shoulder trying to twist himself when I lost patience and decided to twist his shirt for him. I grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled.

Unfortunately I yanked too hard, pulling his whole body towards me, causing him to elbow me in the chest, making the burning a million times worse. This burn must be really bad. "OW, OW, OW" I immediately jumped back tugging at the collar of my shirt pulling it away from my skin and blowing down at my chest thinking that would help cool it down, I was doing all of this, all while jumping up and down. It was something I did to try to prevent myself from crying or yelling from pain.

After a second I realized that people were staring at me, so I stopped jumping, and could feel my face go red. Edward looked confused at first then became very serious.

"That doesn't look good." He said. Are you serious? I knew he was shallow but is he really going to discipline me for freaking out because he elbowed me in the chest where I just got burned…THANKS TO HIM? I was about to tell him off when I realized he was looking at my chest. IDIOT…God Bella…you really are being judgmental.

Suddenly I became very self conscious; Edward Cullen was staring at my chest. I let go of my collar and backed away. He looked up confused. "Bella, you need to get that looked at."

"I'm fine."

"Let me just see, if it looks ok I will drop it, if not I will take you to the infirmary." HA YEAH RIGHT.

"UM…" I backed up more. "I think it's fine, I'll be fine" Then I knocked into a display of postcards and it collapsed to the ground. Great! I bent down to pick them up and Edward came to help.

"Hi Edward," someone said in a seductive voice. It was a girl, of course, with strawberry blonde hair dressed in a very short skirt and a very low cut top.

Edward turned to see who had greeted him, but his face fell when he saw her. "Hi Tanya," he responded with obvious annoyance in his voice.

She glanced over at me then back to Edward, "Was she not letting you fondle her?" His face turned beet red and I could feel that mine was probably the same color; I just tried to concentrate on the postcards.

"I wasn't trying to-"

"You know you are always welcome to fondle me anytime you like," she said stepping closer to him causing him to take a step back towards me.

"No thank you. I really wasn't trying to-" his patience was wearing thin.

"It would be much more enjoyable then groping her."

Any patience Edward had was now gone. "I WASN'T TRYING TO GROPE HER! I WANTED TO SEE HER CHEST!" he practically yelled. Did he ever think before speaking? If my face wasn't red before it certainly was now, especially when I realized that this announcement caught the attention of a security guard.

This "clarification" hardly bothered Tanya, "you can see my chest."

Then the Security guard came over, "Is there a problem over here?"

To say Edward was flustered would be an understatement, "No, I didn't mean…she has…UGH!!" Edward growled in frustration. He looked furious at Tanya and his face was even redder than before. He looked like he was about to have an aneurism, and I had to help him…even if I didn't like him.

Clearly this girl DID like him and he did not like her. I was going to have to use that. I was going to have to do something that I was not going to like myself for a while for doing.

I picked myself off the floor, "There is no problem," I said to the security guard, "unless you can get rid of her." I moved close to Edward taking his hand and entwining my fingers in his, for some reason my heart started going crazy, and I hoped he couldn't tell, "She keeps throwing herself at my boyfriend, and clearly he isn't interested."

To my surprise Edward played along quite well. Tanya on the other hand, laughed.

"YEAH RIGHT! First off like he would ever date YOU! Second, everyone knows that you hate him Isabella Swan. Now you claim to be dating him? Prove it!" she scoffed.

There are many things that founded my hatred for this Tanya chick. First off, I she had marked me as insignificant compared to her when she thought Edward wanted to fondle me, which I could have gotten over easily. Next, She made me sound like I was some kind of horrible disease when she said 'like he would ever date you' who the hell does she think she is? But what _really_ pissed me off was what she called me… I HATE WHEN PEOPLE USE MY WHOLE NAME!

My deep and total hatred for _Tanya_ fueled my next action.

Edward looked confused, but I just let out a laugh and let go of his hand. Then I gently grabbed the sides of his face, stood on his toes and pulled him down until my lips met his.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, and this story line originally belongs to dreamscribbler (link in profile). Again, if you missed the last A/N above the story, dreamscribbler wrote chapters one through thirteen.

The kiss started off gentle, but the shock that I felt earlier when he touched my arm shot through my while body and I found myself kissing him harder. I felt his hands on my back and I wrapped my arms around his neck.

I forgot where we were, who was watching. I forgot that I was supposed to hate him, I forgot my own name. The only thing I really knew was that I wanted to continue kissing Edward Cullen.

My lungs on the other hand wanted oxygen, so I did have to stop. When I pulled away our eyes met and he smiled a crooked smile which made my already racing heart double its pace. I couldn't help but smile back. What was wrong with me? Between his green eyes and his smile I was starting to forget the world existed again.

That was of course until I heard a yell, or I guess it was more of a snarl than a yell. I turned to see Tanya running at me with hate written all over her face. Edward stepped in front of me, but it didn't matter because the security guard caught her. She thrashed around and started throwing everything she could get her hands on at me. I was able to dodge almost everything, the clothes didn't get far, the stuffed animals weren't a huge threat, but when she got to the ceramic coffee mugs I wasn't so lucky, one of them hit me right in the head and broke.

With that the security guard took her out of the bookstore for destroying personal property and assaulting a student, and there were more members of the campus police waiting downstairs for her.

All of that information Edward told me after I stopped swearing about being hit in the head with a freaking coffee mug, (I think coffee has it out for me lately), and establishing that I did not have a concussion.

"Ok, so while you give a statement to the cops, I will buy your shirt, my shirt," he picked up a shirt for himself, taking my word on the stain I guess, "and your book, then get you a new coffee."

"No coffee." I said.

"But I owe you one."

"I don't want to be anywhere near any hot liquids right now." I said reminding him and myself of my burn.

"Oh, right. You DO need to get that looked at. Maybe we should go to the infirmary."

­

"No, it will be fine. I have burn cream in my room, I will put that on it later and it will be fine." There is no way I was wasting my day in the infirmary, they would probably just give me a birth control test and tell me I had the flu, which is their solution to everything.

"Fine" He agreed. We walked downstairs, he headed over to the line to pay for his items and I had to make my statement to campus security.

After I made my statement I made my way over to where Edward was standing. He was texting someone on his phone and looked confused. He saw me approaching and closed his phone and put it in his pocket.

"All ready?" he asked.

"Yeah." I wondered what I was supposed to be ready for. I had to go to class at 4 and I had no intentions of spending any more time with Edward. It was already a bad sign that I didn't cringe internally at the thought of him.

When we walked out of the bookstore I noticed that people were looking at us. At first I thought that it was because of my shirt, then I remembered that I already changed it, so there was no huge coffee stain drawing their attention. But as I started paying attention I realized it wasn't just a few people, it was almost everyone, and what were they looking at?

Suddenly I was self conscious, but before I could try to subtly examine myself for an open zipper or another embarrassing feature my phone started vibrating in my pocket. I had a text message from Angela:

Prof g canceled class! Yay 4 no poli-sci!

Well, at least I can just go back to my room and get away from campus for the day.

"I am just going to go back to my dorm, my class got cancelled." I told Edward, I didn't know where we were going before, but I figured I would fill him in on my plan.

"Oh, what dorm do you live in?"

"North Lake."

"Oh, that is where I live, would you mind if I walked with you, I was going to head over there after I walked you to your next class anyway."

­

He was going to walk me to class? Why? Did he really feel that bad about the coffee thing, not that I wasn't mad about it, but I could find no hostility towards him in my body at the moment. Instead of the usual anger I had for him I got an un-characteristic feeling about him in my stomach when I thought of him walking me to my dorm. I must be sick.

"Umm….I guess it's fine, I mean, you are going there anyway."

The walk to the dorm was quiet, not the comfortable kind of quiet that you can just keep it quiet but the awkward quiet that you just HAVE to say SOMETHING or you will go crazy.

"So…" I started. What do you say to start a conversation with someone you didn't even know? I panicked and said the first thing that came to my mind, "truth or dare?"

He looked at me for a second, "excuse me?"

"It is a simple question, if you are too scared to answer I'll understand." Where was this coming from? Was I flirting with him? When did I start flirting with anyone?

"Truth"

"What is the deal with the crazy chick from the bookstore?

"That was Tanya, she is just this girl who for some reason has it set in her mind that one day I am going to wake up and decide that I want to be with her, even though I have made it clear, or at least I thought I had, that I am not interested in her and never will be. She thinks that the fewer clothes she wears the more I will change my mind."

I just raised my eyebrows. So the campus's most eligible bachelor had a stalker.

"Yeah, it is really annoying. I used to feel bad, thinking I was being mean, but she just keeps coming at me. Anyways, your turn, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." I didn't know him well enough to trust him to make up a dare, especially in public.

"What made you decide to kiss me in the middle of the bookstore?"

I felt the heat rush to my face immediately along with some of the resentment I felt toward him. Of course he would ask that. Did he think I had become one of his groupies? "Don't flatter yourself; I only did it to piss her off. I HATE when people call me by my full first name and she did it purposely to annoy me, so I decided to do ­

something that would bother her, and I figured that kissing you would be the thing that would sting the worst."

"It clearly worked."

"Yeah, and I totally could have taken her by the way."

"What?"

"When she went to attack me after I….you know…you stepped in front of me. I could have taken her. I didn't need you to protect me."

He smiled. "I could have guessed that, I mean you did grow up with Emmett. But if you did end up fighting with her you would have also gotten in trouble, and Emmett would have killed me, so let's just say I did it out of self preservation."

"Emmett's not so bad." I said, "I could take him 7 out 10 times." Living with Emmett was like training in the army, I had to constantly be ready to go into battle, whether it was arm wrestling, regular wrestling, or straight up fighting.

Edward looked like he was deep in thought. He stopped walking and I realized that we were outside the building already, and he was pulling out his ID to swipe to get into the building. "I am having trouble visualizing you taking down the bear that is Emmett."

"It's really not as hard as you would think."

He looked baffled by that statement. "I've done it; it is a difficult thing to do. I can barely do it myself and I am a…"

"Guy?"

"I was going to say football player but yeah, guy works too."

I just rolled my eyes and made my way up the stairs trying hard not to trip up them so I didn't look like an idiot.

I finally reached the fourth floor and went through the door without saying anything, but he continued to follow me.

"You live on this floor?"

"Yeah, I didn't know you did too."

­

You have got to be kidding me, I knew he lived in the building, all of the football players lived in this building, but since when did he live on this floor? How is it possible that I did not know that? You would have thought I would have run into him by now.

I decided it was best to just keep walking and not to look to see if he turned somewhere or stopped, though I _was_ curious which room was his. I was almost at my room when a door to my right opened and Emmett stepped out and he looked livid. He stared me straight in the eye and said, "Get in the room now."

"That's not my room." I responded in a low voice. He sighed and grabbed my arm and led me forcefully into the strange room.

This room, which was just about diagonal from my own, ended up being Edward's room. He shared it with another one of Emmett's friend's Jasper Hale, and Jasper was who I saw first when I entered the room, he looked nervous which made me nervous, what could I have done that Emmett would have taken it out on Jasper, I thought everyone loved Jasper.

Jasper was probably my favorite of Emmett's friends because he was so easy to talk to, he gave great advice and he was always able to calm me down. He always seemed to know exactly how you felt even if you hadn't said a word to him.

"Jasper! What the hell happened this afternoon?" Edward suddenly asked.

I looked at Emmett and a smirk and broken through his mask of anger and he held his palms up to signify that he was staying out of that argument.

"I…I decided I could handle it." Jasper responded tensely.

"So you had to shove me into Bella?"

Jasper looked really guilty, but he looked remorseful, "I didn't mean for you to land on Bella." He looked at me, "I honestly didn't see you there, are you ok?"

I didn't expect him to talk to me in the middle of this, but I guess he was avoiding something, so I figured I would throw him a line, "Yeah, I am fine. I got a new book out of the deal so it worked out well for me." I gave him a thumb up.

Emmett gave me a look I didn't recognize; it was a mixture of smugness and curiosity. I tried to ignore it so I could pay attention to the conversation in front of me. I really did want to know what made Jasper push Edward.

"Just tell me what happened!" Edward was losing his patience.

­

"I don't want you to get mad at me; there is enough anger and tension in the room with Emmett being in it."

"I won't get mad if you just tell me already." Edward responded trying to sound as calm as possible.

Jasper thought for a minute, then took a deep breath. "Ok.

"So, you know how I was going to meet that girl that met over the internet today in the solarium?" Edward nodded. "Well, she was there, only I already knew her. I was really surprised by who it was, not disappointed by any means though. I am overwhelmingly happy. I don't think I have ever been so happy in my entire life,"

"I get it you are happy, continue with the story." Edward pushed.

"Right. Well, like I said, I already knew her, and I wasn't sure how you would react to finding out that I was in love with this girl and I admit that I might have reacted a little harshly, but you know how I am about public scenes, so I pushed you before you could see who it was, ran and grabbed her hand and we went out on a date."

"AWWWWW!" I said before I could stop myself. I realized suddenly that I was in a room with all guys who would probably not find that romantic in anyway, ugh, again, I am such a girl sometimes, but at least Jasper smiled.

"Jasper, who was it?"

The smile immediately left Jasper's face. "Who?"

"The girl from the internet that you already know, that you are already so sure you are in love with?"

There was a knock on the door, but no one moved. Edward was staring intently at Jasper waiting for an answer, and Emmett was waiting to break up a fight.

"I'll get it!" I said. I knew it would be weird answering the door to a guy's room, but I couldn't just let it go unanswered.

I looked out the peephole and standing there was a girl, she was beautiful with short pixie-like black hair, if I remembered correctly it was Edward's sister Alice. At least it wasn't Tanya right?

I opened the door, smiled and backed up giving her room to walk into the danger-zone. She didn't enter right away though, she stood smiling at first, not at me, she was looking past me, I followed her gaze, past Emmett, past Edward, to…Jasper, who ­

suddenly didn't look nervous. Jasper suddenly looked euphoric, he was practically glowing.

Edward saw this too, and after looking from Jasper to Alice, back to Jasper, back to Alice his jaw just dropped in understanding.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, and this story line originally belongs to dreamscribbler (link in profile). Again, if you missed the last A/N above the story, dreamscribbler wrote chapters one through thirteen.

**EPOV (by request); (we are backtracking just a little back to the bookstore)**

After I purchased my shirt, Bella's shirt, and Bella's book, I backed against the wall between the registers and where Bella was talking to security and changing into the shirt I had just bought.

I could not believe what just happened. I was so embarrassed; never in my life would I think that that Tanya girl would do something like that. I mean, first she bluntly asks me to grope her then she tries to attack Bella because she thinks I am dating her? Is she never going to get the not so subtle hint that I am not and will never ever, EVER be interested in her?

I also couldn't believe that Bella kissed me. I kissed her. We kissed. I was probably the luckiest guy in the entire world…or the unluckiest…if Emmett found out he was going to be less than pleased to say the least. That didn't however stop me from re-playing the kiss in my head as I waited for her, I was also sure that she smiled at me when the kiss ended.

Suddenly my phone vibrated in my pocket. I had a text from Emmett,

**Hav u sen bel?**

Emmett was never one to have patience to wait for the keys to let him put in a second "e" to spell "seen" correctly. But I wondered why he was asking me of all people. Then I realized it was probably because he thought I liked her. I replied 'Yeah she is w. me actually." A minute later he responded.

**WHAT?**

I didn't feel like typing it all out in a text, even if having a full QWERTY keyboard did make texting much easier and faster for me. So I just responded 'Long story.'

The next message I got was not from Emmett, but from Jasper, which totally confused me until I finished reading it:

**This is em, i hate my phone. Bring bel back HERE NOW! Make sure she comes to your room i will take it from there. Come in the entrance by the caf. Text me when you get here.**

I guess he couldn't take typing on his regular phone anymore and wanted to use Jasper's keyboard on his phone. But why did I have to bring her back to my room? Why was he with Jasper? How would I even get her go come to the dorm anyway?

Something Tanya said rang in my ears, 'everyone knows that you hate him Isabella Swan.' Why did she hate me?

­

I noticed Bella moving toward me so I snapped my phone shut and shoved it in my pocket. "All ready?" I asked.

She looked unsure but she responded, "Yeah." I knew that Bella had a class at four. How was I supposed to get her to the dorm? I thought about it as we walked.

There were a lot of people watching us leave the bookstore, I wondered if the incident upstairs had been rumored around yet or if people were really just shocked that Bella would be seen publically walking around with someone she apparently hated as much as she did me. I received some death glares from guys as we walked through campus.

Bella's phone vibrated and apparently she got a text, "I am just going to go back to my dorm, my class got cancelled." Excellent! This might be easier than I thought it was going to be! Now, what dorm did she live in?

"Oh, what dorm do you live in?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant about it.

"North Lake." This could not work out better if it had been planned! Now I just have to get her onto the fourth floor!

"Oh, that is where I live, would you mind if I walked with you, I was going to head over there after I walked you to your next class anyway."

"Umm….I guess it's fine, I mean, you are going there anyway."

Neither of us said anything as we were walking. I wanted to say something but nothing sounded right and considering how half of the things I ended up saying to Bella today sounded completely wrong anyway I figured I would just enjoy her company on the walk back to the dorm.

"So…" The silence seemed to be getting to Bella, "truth or dare?"

Did she just ask..., "Excuse me?"

"It's a simple question; if you're too scared to answer I'll understand." She was definitely Emmett's sister.

I tried to fight back a grin as I answered, "truth." I figured it was the safest thing to do since I wasn't sure exactly how much she was like Emmett, Emmett could be brutal with the dares.

"What is the deal with the crazy chick from the bookstore?

­

Ugh, Tanya. Well, at least I can try to clear the air about her. "That was Tanya, she is just this girl who for some reason has it set in her mind that one day I am going to wake up and decide that I want to be with her, even though I have made it clear, or at least I thought I had, that I'm not interested in her and never will be. She thinks that the fewer clothes she wears the more I will change my mind." I was rambling, and I knew it, and I was also really embarrassed talking about this with Bella.

Bella just raised her eyebrows, she looked somewhat surprised.

"Yeah, it is really annoying. I used to feel bad, thinking I was being mean, but she just keeps coming at me." I think I am starting to sound vain, I hope she doesn't think I am, I should probably stop talking about how this crazy girl wants me now, "Anyways, your turn, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." She answered.

There were a million things I could have asked her like simple things like what song were you listening to when I fell on you in the solarium? Or even a risky question like what color underwear are you wearing? And then there were the million other things I was dying to know about her like her favorite song, movie, or food.

Of course, it seems that it just would not be my style to say something that I meant to say to Bella, "What made you decide to kiss me in the middle of the bookstore?" I almost died when I realized I asked that out loud instead of just in my head, but I tried to keep my composure. There goes my attempt to get away from the looking vain thing; maybe she won't see it that way?

Bella blushed, "Don't flatter yourself;" crap, she is mad; "I only did it to piss her off. I HATE when people call me by my full first name and she did it purposely to annoy me, so I decided to do something that would bother her, and I figured that kissing you would be the thing that would sting the worst."

So she kissed me to hurt Tanya, it felt like more than that though, "It clearly worked."

"Yeah, and I totally could have taken her by the way."

"What?" I had gotten so lost in remembering the kiss we had shared that I was missing our conversation.

"When she went to attack me after I….you know…you stepped in front of me. I could have taken her. I didn't need you to protect me." Again, Emmett's sister.

­

I couldn't help but smile. "I could have guessed that, I mean you did grow up with Emmett. But if you did end up fighting with her you would have also gotten in trouble, and Emmett would have killed me, so let's just say I did it out of self preservation."

I could see Emmett's face now, 'hey man, umm your sister got kicked out of the bookstore for fighting with that chick Tanya.' Yup, those would be my last words. He would probably find it funny later, but it would have been my fault, and it would go on her record.

"Emmett's not so bad." I said, "I could take him 7 out 10 times."

I had to work very hard to stop my jaw from dropping. Instead I tried to visualize Emmett and Bella wrestling and Bella NOT losing. Given her small size compared to Emmett's massive size it seemed impossible.

We reached the dorm and I pulled out my ID card to let us into the building. And after we entered the building I finally admitted, "I am having trouble visualizing you taking down the bear that is Emmett."

"It's really not as hard as you would think." She simply replied.

I was baffled by that statement. "I've done it; it is a difficult thing to do. I can barely do it myself and I am a…"

"Guy?" she cut me off before I could finish.

"I was going to say football player but yeah, guy works too." She seemed to be annoyed with me so I just stayed quiet after that.

We were going up the stairs, and I was panicking. How was I going to get her to get off on the fourth floor? Ask her? Make something up. I WAS still carrying her book; maybe if I just got off she would follow so she could get it.

I was still thinking when we reached the fourth floor and I was stunned when she went through the door without me saying anything. I just followed behind her. When she realized I was following her, she seemed almost as surprised as I was.

"You live on this floor?" she asked.

"Yeah, I didn't know you did too."

All this time, she had lived so close! How is it that I had never known? How is it that I have never seen her in the hall?

­

As I pondered this thought I remembered that I was supposed to text Emmett when we got here so, since Bella wasn't paying any attention to me, I quickly shot him a text. I didn't know where her room was and I didn't want her to turn into it if I was supposed to stop her from doing it, not that I didn't want to know where it was.

We were just about at my door when Emmett walked out, and he looked furious. He looked Bella straight in the eye and said, "Get in the room now."

"That's not my room." She responded in a low voice. He sighed and grabbed her arm and led her forcefully into my room. He seemed to be holding her arm too tight, I felt the urge to protect her, but our conversation earlier told me that she could probably defend herself.

When I followed Emmett and Bella into the room I realized that Jasper was in the room also, and I couldn't help but take center stage and find out the reason behind his actions earlier.

"Jasper! What the hell happened this afternoon?"

I notice Emmett hold his palms up to signify that he was staying out of that argument, but I focused on Jasper.

"I…I decided I could handle it." Jasper responded tensely.

"So you had to shove me into Bella?"

Jasper looked really guilty, but he looked remorseful, "I didn't mean for you to land on Bella." He looked at Bella, "I honestly didn't see you there, are you ok?"

She looked surprised, "Yeah, I am fine. I got a new book out of the deal so it worked out well for me." Bella gave him a thumb up. Of course she would try and make him feel better about it without caring why he did it, it's not like she hated _him._

I was losing my patience, "Just tell me what happened!"

"I don't want you to get mad at me; there is enough anger and tension in the room with Emmett being in it." That wasn't a joke, and the sooner he told me, the sooner we could all find out what his problem was.

"I won't get mad if you just tell me already." I responded trying to sound as calm as possible.

Jasper thought for a minute, then took a deep breath. "Ok.

­

"So, you know how I was going to meet that girl that met over the internet today in the solarium?" I nodded. "Well, she was there, only I already knew her. I was really surprised by who it was, not disappointed by any means though. I am overwhelmingly happy. I don't think I have ever been so happy in my entire life," He was babbling.

"I get it you are happy, continue with the story." I pushed, trying to be serene.

"Right. Well, like I said, I already knew her, and I wasn't sure how you would react to finding out that I was in love with this girl and I admit that I might have reacted a little harshly, but you know how I am about public scenes, so I pushed you before you could see who it was, ran and grabbed her hand and we went out on a date."

"AWWWWW!" I heard from behind me. Of course Bella would find that romantic. Jasper seemed to enjoy that, but I just ignored it and continued to push for information.

"Jasper, who was it?"

The smile immediately left Jasper's face. "Who?"

"The girl from the internet that you already know, that you are already so sure you are in love with?"

There was a knock on the door, but no one moved. I was staring attentively at Jasper waiting for an answer; I assumed that Emmett would get the door.

"I'll get it!" Bella said.

I didn't look to see who it was I just continued to wait for jasper's response, but he had become very interested in our guest. When the door opened his face changed, he suddenly didn't look nervous. Jasper suddenly looked like he had just won the lottery. I was curious at this reaction so I turned and saw who our guest was.

Alice.

I looked from Alice to Jasper back to Alice back to Jasper. She couldn't be… he couldn't mean…

But the look on Jasper's face said it all. He looked like all of his worries melted away and all that mattered in the world was the girl standing in front of him…my sister.

­

I didn't know what to say, where to start. I didn't know if I was mad had him for pushing me into Bella, or mad at him for falling for my sister. I did know that I had to try to stay calm. I already made an ass of myself in front of Bella today; I didn't need to make myself look like a jerk too.

I looked at Jasper, he looked scared when he met my eyes again, and "Alice?" he just nodded. I thought about this for a second. I turned to Alice, "You are meeting guys over the internet?"

"No, we met in an online help chat room for a class, remember? It's not like I was searching for some guy to hook up with. Don't be so over dramatic." Alice was not helping me with my keeping my patience.

I decided to turn back to Jasper. I didn't really have a problem with him, he was a cool guy. I trusted him. I guess I just had a problem with one thing. The one thing…

"What about rule number one?" I felt bad seeing his face fall. But then Emmett decided to speak.

"That is really only my rule, but there can be exceptions."

"And Jasper would be a suitable exception for you?"

Emmett had to think for a second. Rule number one was developed a long time ago by Emmett, 'no dating or any other involvement other than friendship with each other's sisters." He had become overprotective after hearing some of the guys talking about what they thought of Bella, and wanted to make sure that she was protected. I can't honestly say I was very happy with this rule, which is probably the real reason I was annoyed with the development between Jazz and Alice, not that Bella would ever want to be with me.

"Yeah, Jazz would be a perfectly acceptable exception." I wondered why he liked Jasper so much all of a sudden then I thought something. Rosalie. Jasper must have given Emmett the ok to attempt to spark his sister Rosalie's interest; she had just transferred here this semester. "But I seriously doubt I have to worry about that." There was no battle for me to fight. But I did find a little hope in Emmett saying that there could be exceptions.

I looked back at Jasper, "you didn't have to body check me into Bella, but besides that it is no big deal." Jasper's pleasure poured back onto his face, he was like a kid on Christmas morning, he looked at Alice, she nodded her head towards the door and he ­

practically ran to be with her. They left, I assume, to go on another date. This was going to be weird.­

­ ­

­

­

­

BPOV

I was trying to keep up with everything that was going on, but once this "rule number one" thing was mentioned, I was lost. All I knew was I was glad that Edward eventually seemed fine with Jasper and Alice being together, at least he wasn't going to be a total jerk about it.

Once Jasper left with Alice I figured I was safe to get some answers, "question! What is this rule number one?" I wasn't asking either Emmett or Edward directly because I didn't really care who answered as long as I was informed.

Edward looked like he was about to say something but it was Emmett who spoke first, "That is none of your damn business, and not why you are here." Oh yeah. I had almost forgotten he was angry.

"Then what does bring me here dear brother?"

Em stepped toward me so he was towering over me with an irritated look on his face, "You are here to explain why the hell that dirt bag is in your room waiting for you when I have told you a million times to stay away from him."

Normally I would be holding my own; glaring back at him with the same livid expression, but that information really caught me by surprise. "Wait, he is in my room!?" I turned and grabbed the handle of the door to leave but Emmett pushed it shut immediately and held it shut.

"What are you doing!? Do you really think I would let you leave after working so hard to get you here instead of walking in there to whatever the hell he has planned? Why did you tell him where you live? Why can't you just listen to me just this once?"

I was really not in the mood for one of his lectures, I swear I get more from him then I do from Charlie sometimes. "Emmett, get out of the way," I demanded. Of course he didn't move away he just got closer to my face, looking more livid than before.

"Make me." He challenged. Ugh! I really wasn't in the mood for this, but if it was the only way I could find out why James Hunter was in my room, or how he found out where I live then I guess I was wrestling with Emmett.

I tried to think of the best way to attack him. I knew that no matter how I did it he would end up with the upper hand shortly after. I never had a good beginning. So I just ­

charged at him. He grabbed me by the waist and flipped me upside down, but then I pulled on his knees making him fall. I was free and closer to the door so I made a break for it but he caught my foot and pulled me back, and I fell onto the floor, he grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back hard.

We continued to wrestle for a while, neither of us paying attention to the fact that we had an audience until Emmett hit me in the chest where I had my burn and I collapsed. Edward practically rammed Emmett to the floor. Emmett was in shock, either by my apparent surrender, or Edward's attack, but he did not retaliate.

Edward came over to me to see if I was ok. "You should really get some burn cream on that, I have some, let me get it."

Edward got me some burn cream, but I had a problem with putting it on. The only mirror in the room was on the back of the door, and Emmett refused to let me anywhere near the door because he was convinced that I would run.

"Emmett you are being ridiculous! I need to put this stuff on." I whined. Emmett just crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the door.

"I…I could help you do it if you want," Edward offered. "Or do it for you."

I felt the heat rush to my face and I could see the corner of Emmett's mouth pull up into a devilish smirk. Jerk, I wanted to beat the crap out of him so badly.

"Umm…I am sure it will be ok." I said

"Bella, it's really red, you can see it from the collar of your shirt."

I sighed and grabbed the cream from him, and turned my back to him. There was no way I was putting it on with an audience. I took a little and put it on the only part that I could see really quickly and then handed him the tube of cream. He looked at me skeptically.

"Bella, you could not have covered that that quickly."

"I did."

"Then let me check, if it is covered fine, if not I am going to finish putting it on. I am not going to be the reason that you get an infection or a scar."

"NO."

­

"Bells, his dad _is_ a doctor." Emmett said, adding in his two cents. Why was Emmet so ok with this? Shouldn't he be protecting his little sister from being felt up by some strange guy, instead of having some stupid smile on his face like he was thoroughly enjoying my discomfort?

"How is that relevant?" And what does his father's profession have to do with anything? I don't care if his father specializes in burns, I don't feel comfortable with Edward Cullen checking out my chest.

"Bella, please just let me help you. I swear I am not trying to be inappropriate."

I thought about this for a second. He seemed very sincere, and the place where I had gotten the burn cream on did feel a lot better. I was also sure I could hurt him very badly if he was lying. "Fine" I said very low through my teeth.

He opened the tube of burn cream and gently applied it on my chest, I his fingers barely seemed to be grazing my skin. The coolness of the cream felt really good against the heat of the burn.

I was trying to look anywhere but at his face because it was very uncomfortable to have some guy who only hours ago you loathed every inch of rubbing cream on your chest.

"Am I hurting you?" he asked, sounding really concerned.

"No…it feels good." I answered before thinking about the words coming out of my mouth. I immediately felt my face heat up, and I knew it had to be really red. "I mean the burn cream is cold so the coldness feels good, not…I don't mean…not that you…" I sounded like an idiot. "I am just going to stop talking now."

He smiled one of those crooked smiles and if it was possible I think I became even redder.

"You're all set." He was done, Thank God.

(sneak peak at the begining of the next chapter!)

"Bella." His voice made my name sound like words in a song.

"Bella wake up." That didn't seem right.

"BELLA!" I jumped up to find my roommate looking quite frazzled. I was confused for a second then mortified. I did not just have that dream.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, and this story line originally belongs to dreamscribbler (link in profile). Again, if you missed the last A/N above the story, dreamscribbler wrote chapters one through thirteen.

BPOV

"Bella." His voice made my name sound like words in a song.

"Bella wake up." That didn't seem right.

"BELLA!" I jumped up to find my roommate looking quite frazzled. I was confused for a second then mortified. I did not just have that dream.

"Please tell me I wasn't talking in my sleep."

"You mean you didn't want me to hear you talk your way through your dream about Edward Cullen?"

I closed my eyes, oh no. This was bad. I didn't just dream about him. I dreamed about…well…let's just say it was inappropriate, and not suitable for the family channel. No wonder Angela looked so frazzled. I don't even want to think about what I was saying in my sleep.

I needed to get up and washed and dressed. I knew that if I stayed in bed I would think about that dream and I did NOT want to do that.

I had taken a shower last night after Emmett finally let me out of Edward's room. I was locked in there until around 9pm. He had called Angela and told her to come over to eat Chinese food that he paid for. After we ate he made us stay and watch The Matrix.

When we were allowed to leave Emmett walked us to our room, where there was no sign of James since he left the room when Angela came to join us in Edward's room.

I grabbed my basket that had by toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, and hair ties and face wash in it and put it on my bed. I reached underneath my bed to my clean towel bin to get a hand towel and threw it in the basket.

I knew that if I got dressed now I would splash water all over my clothes so I just kept on my dark grey sweatpants on with a cream colored tank top.

I slipped into my flip-flops and pulled my hair into a messy bun. I then grabbed my basked and made my way to the girl's bathroom.

I noticed on the way there some girl, I think that her name is Crystal, giving me a hateful look and for the life of me I could not figure out what I ever did to her. I had never really spoken to her, except maybe a hello here or a "God bless you," if she sneezed, but surely that didn't warrant the look I was getting from her.

I pushed open the bathroom door and every head turned my way. Three girls proceeded to look me up and down, appraising me. They must have decided that I was not important enough to occupy any more of their attention and they looked away. Five other girls gave me a look that mirrored the one that Crystal had given me in the hallway, there was one girl however who was leaving that looked at me in what looked like admiration.

Since when did my entrance into a room become an event that got everyone's attention? And why did so many people dislike me? What did I do?

I went to stand at the only open sink, but as soon as I approached it one of the girls giving me the death glare stepped in front of it.

"Someone's already using that one," she said condescendingly.

"Oh," I responded. I didn't think it was right for her to be saving a sink for someone who wasn't here, and I think that any other day I would have told her so, but since apparently I had entered a Bella-hating Twilight Zone and this chick had a hot curling iron in her hand which I doubt she would think twice before hurting me with it, I just turned and left.

It wasn't like I didn't have another option of where to get ready. There was a common prep room that was just set up with mirrors and sinks, perfect for what I needed this morning. There usually weren't a lot of girls in there since it was a co-ed room and they were too paranoid about being seen by a guy, especially a football player, before they were 100 ready to be seen.

On my way to the prep room I received more death glares, and I still could not think of what I had done to deserve them.

When I got to the prep room there were just a couple of guys in there, one I didn't know but he looked like he was exhausted, or maybe hung-over. He was trying to brush his teeth but it seemed painful. The other guy was Mike Newton, who was meticulously placing each piece of hair where he wanted it, if you asked me; he was trying way too hard to get that "just-got-out-of-bed-and-ran-my-fingers-through-my-hair" look. When he saw me he smiled, way too big at first, but then it faded as quickly as it came.

"Bella," he nodded.

"Hey Mike," I replied and started brushing my hair.

"So," he started looking uncomfortable, "Who would have guessed right?" I just gave him a confused look. What was he talking about? Did I miss something? "I mean I know I totally didn't see it coming."

"Mike what…?"

"And what does Emmett have to say about this? I think it is a shame. You could definitely do better. I mean-."

He was suddenly cut off by someone entering the room,

"Well, talk to you later Bella," Mike said grabbing his things and rushing out of the room.

That was really strange. What did he mean I could do better? Was this about James? Ugh. Did Emmett tell everyone about him coming to my room yesterday? I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't put fliers around campus offering a reward for whoever convinces me to stay away from him. He was way too overprotective.

But what would make him just leave like that? Unless James just walked in. Mike was never one for a confrontation, at least with another guy. If he disagreed with something I did he had no problem telling me but if it was Emmett he would never even think about telling Emmett.

I could feel nerves building as I turned to see the person who had just entered the room. I dropped my brush when I saw Edward Cullen standing one sink down from me. He was wearing faded blue jeans and a white t-shirt that was fitted to his very well shaped chest, his hair was messier than ever and he had some scruff since he hadn't shaved yet. The nerves in my stomach turned to fluttering as he picked up my brush as handed it to me with that crooked smile on his face. All I could think about was kissing him, which I blame solely on my dream…nightmare…dream…

"Thanks," I managed to mumble as I took my brush and put it in my basket. NO I told myself. I am NOT becoming one of his groupies. I am NOT letting one stupid dream change anything. Who cares if he didn't seem like the jerk I always thought him to be yesterday, or if I did feel him looking at me while we watched the movie? Who cares if I can't stop thinking about him? I decided a long time ago that I would not like Edward Cullen.

"So," I heard him start, "do you come here often?" Was he seriously hitting on me in what was practically a bathroom? I would have been bad except when I turned to face him he looked really curious and I couldn't help but start laughing. I think my reaction made him realize what he said.

"Oh, wow, I didn't mean it like that." He turned red, "I was just wondering if you used this room instead of the bathroom. I… I just can't seem to get my words right lately."

"Do you have that problem often?" I replied not answering his question. I wasn't sure how to explain the recent 'anti-Bella' movement that I had noticed.

"Only around you," he mumbled under his breath, it was so low that I didn't think I was supposed to hear it. "So," he said louder, "do you normally use this room to get ready?"

"No," I replied, "there were just some…complications in the girl's bathroom so I came here. Do you?"

He looked confused for a second then said, "same here."

I couldn't help my next reply, "do you normally use the girl's bathroom?"

"I meant the guy's bathroom," I gave him a look like this truly cleared up some confusion I had, but I was curious…

"What were your complications?" I asked.

He seemed to think got a minute then responded, "Well, it was just really weird."

I waited for him to go on but when he didn't I spoke, "That tells me nothing, continue."

He sighed, ran a hair through his hair and continued, "Well, so I go to the bathroom and the second I get in there Mike Newton bumps past me knocking into me with his shoulder. Then, these two other guys look pissed off like I just hit their car or something then these other two guys come up to me and tell me that I just _have_ to give them details. When I tell them that I have no idea what they are talking about they tell me that there is no way I wasn't 'hitting that'" he did air quotes with his hands, "and demanded details. When I told them that I still had no idea they got mad and made me leave telling me 'no details, no bathroom time.' Then, if I wasn't already confused, as I was walking over here I pass this girl, I think her name was Caitlyn, or Crystal or something like that, and one look at me and she starts sobbing."

I could not believe what I had just heard. How weird was it that Edward was forced out of the bathroom too? This couldn't just be a coincidence, but what could cause the sudden revolt against me AND him?

"Something wrong?" he asked breaking my train of thought. Only then did I realize that I was staring straight at him while I was thinking. I felt my face go red.

"No, I," I started, "that was weird."

He nodded in agreement, "so what were your complications?

"Well…oddly enough they were similar to yours." I explained I told him how on the way to the bathroom I saw Crystal and instead of crying she looked hateful, then in the bathroom how the girls there either wanted to kill me or thought I wasn't worthy to breathe the same air, and I told him about the girl with the curling iron saving the last sink. When I was done I was pretty sure he was giving me the same look I had given him at the end of his story.

"Wow it's like we are in the Twilight Zone or something." He said.

"That's what I was thinking!" I replied excitedly, "It's like you could read my mind!" I realized that I sounded like an idiot, but he just smiled that crooked smile that had gotten me in trouble in the dream I had last night.

NO! I CAN'T think of that. STOP IT BELLA! GAH.

"I can read minds, didn't you know that?"

I knew he was kidding, but suddenly I was very nervous and had to change the subject.

"Sorry Emmett took over your room last night."

"It's ok; he invites himself over all the time. It was nice to finally get to hang out with you though. Sorry you had to be held captive to do so though."

_It was worth it._ WHAT? Ugh. I need to get out of here. I can't believe that thought even crossed my mind! I just smiled and started putting things into my basket so I could leave. I grabbed the basket and faced Edward to say goodbye when someone pushed me from behind making me drop my basket and crash into Edward.

I don't know who pushed me, I didn't even look to see, All I could concentrate on was the fact that Edwards hands were on my waist, my hands were on my chest, and his face was inches from my own.

"Are you ok?" he asked, but I couldn't answer. I could just barely nod not losing eye contact with him. I could feel my heart racing, and that electric current that I seemed to always feel when he touched me was running along my body. I felt my head leaning toward him slowly. He was leaning in too. I could feel his breath on my lips.

Then out of nowhere there was there was a flash.

Dazed I turned my head toward the source to see the guy who I thought had a hangover earlier holding a camera. It looked like a fairly nice camera too, the kind that professionals would use. He looked wide awake now, grinned at us, pointed the camera at us and said, "smile," then grabbed his things and ran out of the room.

What was that? Why? Wha…

Oh my God…I almost just kissed him...and I couldn't blame it on being angry at some girl. I almost did it on my own free will. I need to stay away from him. I need to get away from him.

I quickly pulled away from Edward, who still had his hands on my waist, and not caring about my things ran out of the prep room. I could buy a new toothbrush and hairbrush.

I practically ran to my room, not even acknowledging the people in the hall. I could care less if I was getting glares right now.

I burst into my room and slammed the door locking it and put my back to it making sure no one could come in. When I looked up I saw that Ben, Angela's boyfriend was over and Angela was still in the room. If I wasn't already at my maximum amount of embarrassment, I would have probably been more embarrassed.

"Angry mob chase you in here?" He asked very casually. It took me a second to realize that he was serious.

"What? Why would an angry mob…"

"Oh I don't know, only because this is the biggest news that the school paper has printed in four years, and I am pretty sure that there are internet groups and websites dedicated to hating you now," he said tossing a copy of the school paper to me. I slid down the door so I was sitting with my back to it and grabbed the paper so I could see what he was talking about.

**They're Dating!**

Underneath the title was a huge picture of me and Edward from yesterday…kissing. I didn't blush…instead I could feel all of the blood drain from my face. There were other pictures of us apparently from right after the kiss when I smiled at him, and then some from our walk back to the dorms. There was even one of us standing in from of Emmett with his arms folded and him looking angry. How could I not have noticed that someone was taking pictures? Why would anyone be taking pictures? Why does anyone care?

I read the article:

_Sorry ladies and gentlemen, it seems that campus's two most sought after students Isabella Swan and Edward Cullen are seeing people, each other. This was confirmed when the couple was seen locking lips in the campus bookstore, where Isabella, better known as Bella was overheard referring to Cullen as her Boyfriend. Neither Cullen nor Swan were available for comments._

"_I always thought she hated him, but I guess she was just playing hard to get," says Jessica Stanley, freshman. Stanley continued saying, "That's probably the only reason he asked her, he only wanted what he thought he couldn't have. He could do way better than Isabella Swan"_

_Jacob Black, Sophomore, a close friend of Bella's claims not to have known about the relationship, but when shown the pictures, Jacob said, "Well I guess Cullen gets anyone he wants doesn't he." _

I had to stop reading. This was getting ridiculous. Why would I date him? This was why all the girls hated me; they thought that I had stolen away their prince charming, their dream boy.

I looked up to find out I was being scrutinized by Ben and Angela. I had to clear the air.

"It isn't true."

"A picture says a thousand words. Add that to the article, and the quote of you calling him your boyfriend, and that is a heck of a lot of words." Ben replied.

I knew I would have to spend the next hour defending myself.

EPOV

Before I could think of a logical reason why this random guy was taking a picture of me and Bella she ran out of the prep room. I tried to call after her but no words came out.

We almost kissed. I had been so close, I had held her body so close to mine, her hands on my chest, her lips just inches from my own and this idiot ruins that.

It did have me thinking though. Maybe she didn't hate me.

I realized she had left all of her stuff so I grabbed her basket, grabbed my stuff and walked back to my room.

I had a sense of déjà vu when I got back to my door because Emmett was standing outside with his massive arms crossed over his chest. I was a little nervous, but there was no way he could know I almost just kissed his sister. I mean, she wouldn't have told him…right?

"Is there a problem?" I asked, attempting to pass him and go into my room to put my stuff down before bringing Bella her stuff.

"Do you think I am an idiot?" He asked, his voice boomed in my little room, clearly Emmett was mad. "Do you honestly think I wouldn't find out?"

"Whoa, I don't know what you are talking about." He narrowed his eyes and threw a crumpled piece of paper at my feet.

I cautiously reached for it and opened it up, it was the cover of the school news paper, and on it was a huge picture of me and Bella kissing, and above it the headline read, "**They're Dating." **Oh shit.

"It's not what it looks like." I tried to explain.

"Oh really, because it looks like you kissed my sister."

"No...I mean...yeah, but it wasn't like that." I said I knew it sounded stupid. "She did it as a favor.

"You asked her to kiss you?" he seemed to be even angrier.

"No!" I was digging myself into a hole. I guess I was going to have to explain the whole situation. "That Tanya chick shows up in the bookstore to annoy me while I am in there with Bella and she pisses off Bella, and calls her Isabella and then Bella figures that the only way to make her leave me alone and to get back at her for calling her by her whole name is to pretend we are dating and then all of a sudden Bella kissed me. I swear that is all that happened."

"You expect me to believe that my little sister, who hates you with every fiber of her being, kissed you because Tanya called her Isabella?"

Why does everyone but me know that she hates me so much? Why does she hate me? "That is what she said to me."

Emmett seemed to think for a second, "Well, I guess that does make more sense than you claiming that she agreed to date you."

I faked a smile and nodded once. Well, at least Emmett didn't want to kill me anymore, and I guess this article explains my experience in the bathroom this morning; I wasn't the only guy on campus attracted to Bella. I found myself clenching my jaw when I remembered that they wanted to know how she was in bed, I suddenly wanted to hunt them down and break their jaws.

"Are you ready to go?" Emmett asked, interrupting my thoughts. Crap, right, class. I threw on my sneakers and grabbed my backpack.

"Yeah let's go." I would have to return Bella's bathroom stuff to her later.

BPOV

It took a half an hour to convince Ben and Angela that I was not involved with Edward, Angela would have been easier to convince if I hadn't spoken in my sleep last night.

Luckily I only had to suffer through one of my classes today because one of my teachers has the flu, and one of them told us to use today as a research day for a report we have to do, which I already finished, so after my 12-12:50 class I ran back to my dorm and planned to stay in there for the rest of the day.

I was sitting on my round chair, with my feet in the air and my head just resting on the edge. I always found reading upside down more comfortable when I was stressed. I had my I-pod on and I was reading my new copy of Wuthering Heights.

Angela, Ben and I had decided to order a Pizza for lunch, which was supposed to be here ten minutes ago, but who's watching the clock?

I heard someone knock on the door, grateful that the pizza was finally here, but didn't bother to look since I was only a couple of pages away from finishing the chapter I was on. Suddenly I noticed a shadow looming over me, and felt someone looking at me. I tilted my head back a little to see who it was.

"You look good upside down," he said with a mischievous smile playing on his lips. James was standing over me. I panicked, and me being the oh so graceful person I am, while trying to get off my chair, flipped it over and landed on top of him.

"Oh my God, I am SO sorry!" I said quickly getting myself and my chair off of him.

"It's no problem, but for future reference, I prefer to be on top," he said, his playful smile was still there, I could feel my face go bright red. Did he just say that? "Just kidding," he added, "or am I?"

I had a feeling this was going to be a long day.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, and this story line originally belongs to dreamscribbler (link in profile). Again, if you missed the last A/N above the story, dreamscribbler wrote chapters one through thirteen.

**JamesPOV**

I was spending the whole day thinking about how absurd it was that they wouldn't let me near Bella yesterday. I mean, if they knew what my intentions were, that would be one thing, but there is no way they could know. How was I going to get this to work, if I couldn't get a chance to talk to her again?

"Hunter, you got a delivery," my boss shouted at me. I have the easiest job in the world. Deliver pizzas to college kids, and get paid by the hour plus tips. Normally the delivery boy wouldn't get paid by the hour, but my uncle owns the pizzeria so I get special treatment.

I looked down at the address and couldn't help but smile, finally something was looking up for me! Delivery: Swan, Campus -North Lake rm. 427. I knew from previous deliveries that Emmett lived in room 732, and that Bella, my key target, was the occupant of room 427, and since her name is on the order, she would HAVE to be there this time.

I grabbed the pizza box, and an order of garlic knots that weren't in the order and headed to my car. I figured that giving her some free food would earn me some points.

When I got to her dorm I saw a stack of school papers with a picture of Bella and Edward Cullen kissing. The title of the article suggested that they were dating. Damn it, Tanya was right. I thought my cousin was just over reacting when she came over to my apartment infuriated and upset that Edward found a girlfriend. But she hates him; just yesterday she looked as if she could kill him. Well, they could be wrong; I mean the school paper had become a tabloid since they decided to take into account what the students would find most appealing to read about. I wouldn't let this little snag interrupt my plans.

I went up to the fourth floor and over to her door, trying to keep an eye out for Cullen or Emmett so they wouldn't immediately pull Bella away from me before I could talk to her.

I knocked on the door and her roommate Angela opened the door, I had suffered through an agonizing two hours with her while waiting for Bella the yesterday, she clearly was not happy to see me. I am pretty sure that if I wasn't holding the pizza she would have closed the door in my face.

"Delivery for Swan," I said to her, trying my best to be polite. I knew that she was my last obstacle between talking to Bella today.

"How much is it?" she asked trying to close the door a little, probably so I couldn't see Bella sitting the wrong way in her chair reading. Too late.

"It's on the house, but I would like to speak to Bella, and I know she is here this time," I replied, still trying to sound polite. Angela didn't look very happy about this, but she opened the door further and backed away, letting me enter.

"I'd rather pay for the food," I heard her mumble under her breath.

Bella hadn't noticed that I came in, so I walked over to her. I had to admit, she was very attractive. This might be more enjoyable than I thought. When she realized I was standing above her I finally spoke.

"You look good upside down," I said with a smile. I knew, or had figured before all of the recent rumors, that she didn't necessarily like the goody-goody type guys since she didn't like Edward Cullen, so I figured being myself was ok. Plus, most girls like the bad-boy type, right? Her eyes grey wide and she tried to get up off of her chair, but she leaned on a bad spot and flipped the whole thing over and landed on top of me.

"Oh my God, I am SO sorry!" She said quickly standing up, and picking up the chair

"It's no problem, but for future reference, I prefer to be on top," I said smiling. When her face went bright red I realized that I might have scared her, and I didn't want to do that, that would ruin the plan. I would have to play it off. "Just kidding," I don't want to sound like a dork, "or am I?"

Bella seemed more flustered than scared now, which I figured was a good thing.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Delivering your pizza," I responded simply.

"Oh," she said, but looked like she was thinking, "So that is how you knew where I lived yesterday."

"Yeah, I am not some stalker." Her face seemed to turn pink again; clearly she thought I was stalking her.

"So why were you here yesterday, you had no pizza then."

"Well," I started, I had intended on just asking her out yesterday, but now with recent speculation about her and Cullen, I had to get my facts straight, "honestly, I was going to see if you were free to go out sometime," I paused to let that information sink in, her face got red, which I was learning was a fairly easy thing to make happen. Then I continued, "But now I am not so sure that you are available. I mean, rumor has it that you are seeing someone who yesterday you led me to believe you didn't even like."

The embarrassment that she had shown from my admittance to wanting to date her faded and she looked annoyed, "I am NOT dating him!"

She looked as if she could continue on and rant about the rumors, but I honestly didn't care, I had gotten the information I needed and now all I needed was for her to agree to go out with me. I also couldn't waste time because I had a feeling that her roommate had already alerted Emmett to my presence and he would burst into the room any minute.

"Excellent!" I said, trying to look pleased, "then you can go out with me tomorrow night."

Bella looked like she was about to reply when her roommate spoke instead, "It's a school night, she can't go out."

What are you her mother? No, I can't be rude; I am trying to be nice.

"Right, I meant Friday night." I tried my best not to narrow my eyes in her direction, and make it obvious that I did not appreciate her interruption.

"Umm," Bella started.

Then there was a pounding at the door. I didn't need more than one guess to know who it was. Angela practically ran to the door to let in Bella's brother.

"Hey," he said loudly, "I heard there was pizza." I'm sure that was the reason, I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that I was within reaching distance of his precious little sister.

**BPOV**

It was so awkward having James in my room, the bundle of nerves the built in my stomach grew every second that he stayed. I couldn't believe he was asking me out. And why did Angela freak out at him for doing it? She is never like that with anyone, she is normally fairly reserved.

When Emmett walked in the door I was really confused.

"Em, what are you doing here, don't you have class?" I asked trying to sort through everything.

"Yeah, but you know how I can't resist pizza." He responded with a grin on his face.

"There isn't enough for you to eat too," Emmett could eat a large pizza by himself without even trying. I was hungry and there was no way I was sacrificing my meal for him.

"I will only have one piece, I _can_ control myself."

He must have found out James was here somehow…Angela. There could be no other way that he found out both days. And there was no way he would be skipping class for one slice of pizza.

"So Bella," James interrupted my thoughts, "is Friday good?"

Was he seriously asking me out? Especially in front of Emmett? It was no secret that Emmett hated James, why would he do that?

"Umm…" I started. "I..."

"She is busy." Emmett finished for me. I spun my head around to look at him, narrowing my eyes at him. How dare he make my decisions for me! I could do whatever I wanted to! He didn't look sympathetic or pleading, instead he looked a lot like Charlie, our dad, when he was mad. His eyes were hard and I could tell he was determined to make sure I did not agree to this date.

"Oh really, what is she doing?" James sneered in reply to Emmett.

Emmett glanced out the open door down the hall for a second then looked back at James, "She will be with me and the rest of the football team and cheerleaders rehearsing for the Christmas dance competition."

"I WILL BE WHAT?!" I had to have heard him wrong; there was no way in heaven or hell he could have said that I was going to be rehearsing for that stupid horribly embarrassing dance competition.

"I must have forgotten to mention it to you, Alice wanted me to ask you if you would dance in the competition because we are one girl short and the only way we can legally fill that spot is with a family member, and Alice specifically requested you." Emmett informed me. The look he was giving me told me that there was no room for arguments, and I would wait to argue until after James left just because I didn't want to start a fight in front of him.

"Sorry James, looks like I am busy," I said in a low voice.

He glared at Emmett then walked closer to me, took my hands to pull me closer to him, then lowered his head to my ear. I could feel his breath in my ear when he spoke, "I guess I am going to have to sneak you away in order to spend time with you. See you in class tomorrow." He kissed my cheek, and winked at me then slowly walked out of the room, narrowing his eyes one more time at Emmett on his way out.

Emmett looked like he was about so say something, and it was probably something along the lines of 'what the hell did he just say to you?' but I decided to speak first figuring that this dance thing was more of a pressing matter.

"Emmett, I can't do that dance thing."

"Bella, yes you can, we really need you to do it. If we didn't need you to I wouldn't be asking, trust me."

Ouch. I know I am clumsy but way to be a jerk about it Em. I must have been relaying my thoughts in my face because he continued, "I didn't mean it like that, I just meant that I wouldn't let you go and be paired up with one of the guys on the team, I mean you know how they normally dance at these things." I suddenly had a mental picture of one of the performances from the year before, girls grinding on guys to the point that I thought that the performances should be screened and interrupted for its inappropriate behavior. If I wanted to see soft core porn I am sure I could find a good website. That made me even more sure that I couldn't do this.

"Em, I really can't do this."

"Oh come on Bella please?!" The pleading voice wasn't Emmett's; it was the high pitched musical voice that belonged to Alice Cullen. "It will be a lot of fun! I promise it won't be too inappropriate, and we will get to go shopping for some really cute outfits!"

"Alice, if you knew me you would know that I can barely _walk _across a flat surface without tripping, and that is with no one watching; now you want me to dance in front of an audience?"

"Bella, number one: it is a shame that we have yet to officially meet until right now when our brothers have been friends for over two years! This is our third year in school, and we have both been here all three years, our brothers have been best friends, and we should have become friends too, I plan on amending this mistake starting immediately! Number two: I have absolute faith that I can turn you into a perfect ballerina in time for the competition! Now please say you will do it. Please, please, please, please!"

I have heard numerous times from Emmett that whatever Alice sets her mind to wanting she gets one way or another, meaning that my arguing the point further would be useless. "Fine, but I am not dancing all up on some random football player."

I didn't have time to react before Alice jumped at me and threw her arms around me. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! We should celebrate! You, Angela, Rosalie and I should go shopping tonight!"

"Sorry Alice, I have plans with Ben tonight," Angela responded quietly, "it's our 4 year anniversary."

Alice squealed then ran and hugged her, "That is so exciting! I can't wait to celebrate an anniversary!"

"Didn't you just start dating Jasper yesterday?" I asked, hoping I wouldn't sound nosey.

"Yeah, but I still can't wait until we celebrate our one year anniversary, I know we will be together forever. I can just feel it." She said and then seemed to get lost in her thoughts for a second, and then zoned back in, "Ok, so you, me and Rosalie: shopping tonight!"

"I am not sure Bella is ready for that step Al." Emmet stepped into the conversation.

"Emmett, don't be ridiculous. She is a girl, she needs clothes. Right Bella?"

I wasn't sure how to answer this, I didn't think I needed clothes, "umm, I guess I could use a new hoodie or something."

Alice's jaw dropped for a second, then she composed her face, "Bella, sweetheart, may I look in your closet?"

I suddenly got nervous, but then again there was only a few hoodies, jeans and sweaters in there so there wasn't much for her to critique right? "Sure?"

I pointed to the door that led to my closet and she opened it, she didn't even try to stifle the gasp that came out.

"Bella, your shoe collection consists of a pair of flip-flops and two pairs of sneakers, and your wardrobe contains all jeans and sweaters. This is serious. This closet is going to be full by the time I am done with you. I am not even going to ask what is in your drawers; I assume it isn't much better than this. This is a shopping emergency. We better leave soon."

My clothes weren't that bad, were they? "Alice, they are just clothes."

She turned to me, her face serious as death, "just clothes? Clothes are very important, they say a lot about you! They express who you are. And if you are going to be on the cover of the school paper, you are going to need to look stylish."

Ugh, since when does anyone read that stupid thing anyway?

She called Rosalie, who is Jaspers step-sister who just transferred here this semester, to go shopping explaining the emergency. I hadn't met Rosalie yet, but I had heard from Jacob that she was gorgeous; he said that she didn't seem to be willing to give any guy the time of day though so she was probably stuck up.

"I just have to go drop something off to my brother then we can get going, do you want to come?"

"Not particularly." I answered. I really didn't want to see Edward, especially since we almost kissed this morning.

"Why not? You are dating the guy aren't you?" She asked an honest look of confusion spread on her face.

"No I am not, it was a misunderstanding. That whole article is a lie. The pictures were taken out of context." I said trying to clarify.

She didn't look convinced, "how is a picture of you and Edward kissing taken out of context?"

UGH! I growled, "Can we just go? I am so tired of having to explain that."

"Sure, but we are seeing Edward first."

"Super," I replied sarcastically. I put on my sneakers and grabbed my wallet, my phone and my keys sticking them in my pockets. And Alice dragged me out the door.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, and this story line originally belongs to dreamscribbler (link in profile). Again, if you missed the last A/N above the story, dreamscribbler wrote chapters one through thirteen.

**BPOV**

Alice pulled me across the hall to Edward's room. I really wasn't ready to see him again, I did wonder what his reaction was to the newspaper article, but could I face him after almost kissing him on my own free will this morning?

Alice started knocking on the door, repeatedly, nonstop, while looking around. All of a sudden a small squeal came out of her mouth and she ran away and leapt into Jasper's arms who had been walking from the stairs toward his room. He picked her up and spun her around while they hugged. They really did make a cute couple.

My attention was drawn away from the happy couple when the door I was standing in front of was forcefully pulled open revealing a very agitated looking Edward Cullen. The hard look on his face caused a lump to form in my throat, though I guess I did kind of understand why he would be angry. I think I would be pretty annoyed if someone continuously knocked on my door for almost two minutes straight.

As he looked at me his angry mask softened and transformed into one that was a mixture of curiosity and amusement, and then quickly turned to one of worry.

"I swear I had nothing to do with the article, I was just as surprised as I am sure you were, you can ask anyone," he rambled.

"No, Edward…. I didn't think…. Why would I…" Why couldn't I form a complete sentence?

He seemed to relax and then looked curious again, "then what are you doing here?" Crap, why did Alice run down the hall? Why didn't she come back yet, I was seriously rethinking my position on them being a cute couple. I was deep in thought between trying to come up with an excuse for being here and thinking of all the things I wanted to say to Alice, though I doubted I would, I could already tell she was one of those people you just couldn't stay mad at, when Edward continued, "Not that didn't want you to come. I mean I didn't _want_ you to come. Wait…I didn't _not _want you to come…I just…I wasn't expecting to open the door and find you standing there, on the other side of the door, waiting to…"

"Edward," I cut him off, although I was thoroughly enjoying his struggling to find words, and I hated to admit that it was kind of cute, I felt the need to point out that it was Alice who was here to see him. "I didn't come here." He looked confused, and then I thought about what I said. Great job Bella, that makes a lot of sense, you are standing in front of him claiming you aren't there. "I mean, I didn't come to see you," did his face just fall a little? "Alice did, she just ran down the hall when she saw Jasper."

"Oh," he thought for a second, and then looked confused again; all this thinking had to be hurting his brain, "since when do you hang out with Alice?"

"Since I decided to rectify the fact that you and Emmett have been friends for years and Bella and I have never met!" Alice chimed in appearing out of nowhere, "plus if you two are going to be dating she is going to need new clothes, I didn't see any date worthy clothes in that closet."

I felt my face turn red, then at the exact same time Edward and I said "We are not dating." Alice didn't look convinced though.

Then Jasper looked at me, "Bella, you agreed to go shopping with Alice?"

I just looked at him unsure of what to say, I was starting to get nervous remembering how Emmett had also seemed reluctant when Alice mentioned us going shopping, "Yeah, why does everyone make that sound like a really bad thing?"

Edward and Jasper exchanged glances; it was Jasper who spoke, "Alice, Bella isn't like Rosalie. I don't know how much she is going to enjoy shopping with you. Please be easy on her."

Alice rolled her eyes, "Guys, she is still a girl, a girl with serious need of a shopping trip after what I saw in her closet. I think I can handle this. I just came here to get my mail that mom sent from Edward."

"Why does he have it?" I asked.

"Oh, mom was sending him some of his CD's from his room and decided to just put my mail in the box with those since I see him all the time anyway. There are a few credit cards in there!" she explained.

"OH" she suddenly exclaimed as we all went into Edward and Jasper's room so Edward could get Alice's mail, "Bella agreed to dance with us for the Christmas dance competition! We are SO going to win this year!"

Edward and Jasper looked from Alice to me and back to Alice, "Alice have you spoken to Emmett about this?" Emmett? Granted he was the one who brought it up to me, why would it matter if he was spoken to about it?

"Of course, he was trying to convince Bella when I came into her room earlier!" Jasper and Edward looked doubtful, "What?"

"I just don't think that Emmett would want Bella dancing with any of the guys from the team." Edward stated mater-of-fact-ly, "especially the way you normally choreograph the dancing."

"Well, he was the one wanting her to do it so clearly you are wrong, plus, it is her choice and she was thrilled," Alice said making a point to avoid the glare I was now giving her, her eye seemed to catch something on the floor near Edward's desk.

"Oh dear brother of mine, since when do you own a hair straightener?"

I glanced in the direction she was looking to see the basket I had brought to the prep room this morning with all of my stuff in it sitting on the floor. He must have picked it up after I ran out.

"That's mine." I stated. Alice raised her eyebrow at me, "I kind of forgot my stuff in the prep room this morning; Edward must have grabbed it for me." I glanced over at Edward who had a crooked smile planted on his face; I couldn't help but smile back while thinking about the reason why I left so suddenly. NO, no smile, awkward, gross…right? "Thanks."

"Anytime." He replied still smiling, I felt the fluttering in my stomach and my heart started racing. Bella, he picked your basket off the floor and brought it to your room, it really wasn't a big deal, calm down.

"Are you sure you two aren't dating?" Alice asked eyeing us suspiciously.

"I'm sure," I responded.

"How did you manage to leave all of your stuff in the prep room?" Jasper asked.

I willed myself not to blush, "Well…something came up and I had to leave." I figured keeping it short and simple would work best.

"What was there another misunderstanding?" Alice joked.

Now, I knew she was kidding, she was using my words from earlier when she asked about the picture of me and Edward kissing and I said it was just a misunderstanding, and she couldn't possibly know what happened, but I couldn't stop the blush that crept onto my face this time.

I watched as her eyes grew wide, "Oh my God! You two kissed again?!"

"NO!" I exclaimed, "we didn't…what happened was…we were…I had to…" I was dying, and I could tell from the amused look on Alice's face that she didn't believe me.

"We didn't," Edward spoke up, "someone pushed her into me and then someone else snapped a picture of us, it was awkward and she left." I was suddenly very grateful for his presence and nodded, backing up his statement.

"That is what is making her blush?" Alice pushed.

"Alice, what doesn't make her blush?" Edward countered. I narrowed my eyes at him. My good feelings toward him started to disappear with him making fun of me, but when his eyes met mine he winked, the fluttering in my stomach picked up and I was blushing again. "See?"

"Whatever," Alice was giving in, "Thanks for my mail, now it's time to shop! Bye Jazz!" She kissed him, then grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door.

Alice insisted on driving her car to the mall. When we got to it my jaw dropped, she had to be kidding. Did she seriously drive a yellow Porsche 911Check info in new moon

Turbo (man I _have_ to stop hanging around Emmett, you know it is bad when I start recognizing cars)? She didn't even notice my hesitation and just hopped in the driver's seat, so I carefully opened the passenger door and slid into the passenger seat.

The mall was about 20 minutes from the dorms, well, I stand corrected the mall is about 9 minutes from campus when Alice is driving. We met Rosalie at Andy's Pretzel shop, and the second I saw her i immediately regretted not checking the mirror before I left. For the first time ever I cared how I looked, even though I knew that there was no way on earth I would ever compare with this blonde haired model who was waiting for us.

"Rose!" Alice squealed after hugging the model, "we have a shopping emergency, I saw the inside of dear Bella's closet and it is just hoodies and oversized jeans, and she owns like one pair of sneakers and 2 pairs of flip-flops. That is her entire closet."

Rosalie then turned to me and smiled as she held out her hand, "You must be Bella," I nodded and smiled back at her.

"Yup, apparently I am the fashion victim, and Alice, one of those flip-flops are actually my shower shoes if I were to be completely honest." Alice's eyes widened and she took a deep breath.

"We need to start now! Full wardrobe, head to toe." She announced then pulled me toward the first store at the far east end of the mall.

Shopping with Alice and Rosalie was insane, I never tried on so many clothes in my entire life. Alice made me try on dresses, skirts, jeans, shorts, bathing suits (not that I knew when I would be using them any time soon), millions of shirts, tons of shoes, jackets, and even some pajamas. At one point Alice left me alone with Rose, leaving me with a pile of clothes for Rose to decide on, and she came back with bags from Victoria's Secret that she said nothing about, they had better be all for her.

The worst part of the whole experience was when they were trying to find clothes for the Christmas dance thing, I had never seen tighter clothes or shorter shorts before in my life. They decided that the outfit was going to have red and white striped tights, a very short green skirt with short green cheerleading shorts underneath, tight short sleeved white button up shirts with a red half vest and stiletto boots that I am going to kill myself in. I have never worn anything like that in my life, and did not want to be out in public like that. But Alice insisted that it was a cute outfit.

By the time we left the mall we had about twenty bags. Alice had paid for everything which was absolutely insane, she refused to let me pay for anything except for the hoodie that she didn't want me to get, that I _did_ get to buy.

I had to admit that although shopping for 3 hours with Alice and Rosalie was exhausting, they were really sweet and we really did hit it off. I felt really comfortable around them like I had known them forever instead of just meeting them today. We seemed to talk about everything, Alice told me that she had always had a crush on Jasper and then told me how she met a guy online in a class study-chat and was meeting him and knew when it was him that he was her soul mate. It was really sweet, she wasn't questioning it, she was so sure, like she somehow knew what would happen.

Rose told me that she had just gotten out of a horrible relationship that her mom and stepdad had tried setting up with this guy Royce who seemed to just want to show her off to his friends like she was some kind of trophy. He would always tell her that she was eating too much, or looked like crap. Once he even wanted her to hook up with one of his friends because he lost a bet. That is when she decided to dump him and transfer schools, which brought her here.

I didn't have any stories to tell them. I hadn't really dated anyone…well…no one I could admit to…I had dated this one guy freshman year but we both swore not to tell anyone, and as far as I knew he kept his word. It didn't last more than a few months; we both realized that we made better friends than anything. I just told them that I had never had never been interested in anyone.

"What about Edward?" Rosalie asked. I was getting so tired of that question. Luckily Alice decided to answer for me.

"They claim that they aren't dating. The kiss thing was apparently a 'misunderstanding.'"

"Oh," Rose responded, "you guys would be cute together; all those pictures looked like you were really enjoying each other's company."

I rolled my eyes, "don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen." In what universe would Edward Cullen be interested in dating someone as plain as me? I mean, he belonged with someone like Rosalie, I am sure she is his dream girl anyway.

"Why not?" Alice asked, "you two seem to be getting along well enough."

"He's just…I'm…I doubt I'm his type and he isn't really mine."

"Bella," Rose reasoned, "if you haven't dated anyone then you don't really have a type." I just rolled my eyes, I was getting good at that. "Alice what _is_ Edward's type?"

"Well," she said her eyebrows furrowing, she clearly had to think hard about the answer, "I haven't actually seen him with a girl before, all I really know is she likes brunettes, and smart girls, and that he has a thing for…"then she suddenly stopped, like she hadn't meant to start that last thought.

"Has a thing for what?" Rose prodded.

"Umm…" she said sounding panicked, "has a thing for…music…it has nothing to do with girls so I don't know why I was going to say it." She was lying, obviously but I tried not to care, tried being the key word. It really bothered me, all I could think of was what she was going to say.

Rose didn't seem to believe her either but didn't press the subject. We got apple juice slushies and then finally left the mall.

Alice drove just as fast back to the dorms, though she got stuck at a light that she missed on the way so it took 11 minutes to get back. She pulled up to the five minute parking lane to unload the car.

I went to the trunk to get the bags and she laughed and stopped me.

"Bella, we can recruit help to carry the bags in, apparently Rose had been texting Emmett and Jasper (and Edward) on the ride home because as if on cue they walked out of the building to unload the car. "Bella, give me your keys, I will supervise the unloading of the bags if you watch my car."

"I can unpack my own bags," I countered.

"Bella, not all of the clothes are yours, I can do it faster. Oh Edward, I think we can get all the bags, why don't you keep Bella company."

Edward gave his sister an odd look, which Alice responded to with a seemingly sweet one. It seemed like they were having a silent argument, but then Alice just bounded away toward the building.

"What was that all about?" I asked, I assumed he didn't want to have to babysit the car with me, I don't blame him.

He looked over to me, his eyes meeting mine, I tried to convince my heart to slow down, "Oh, she is just being Alice, always up to something. You'll find out soon enough." Suddenly I was nervous."So you survived shopping with Alice."

"Yeah," I said, "It was…"

"insane?" he finished.

I found myself laughing, "No, interesting. I do not think I have ever put on so many clothes in my life." He laughed, "I do think she is trying to kill me though."

He looked confused, "How is she doing that?"

"Well she is going to make it look like an accident, death by a pair of shoes. I will die at the Christmas dance thing, if I even make it through the practices."

He laughed then moved a little closer to me and said in a very low voice, "Don't worry, I'll protect you." I swear my heart was having a seizure or something, it pushed all of my blood to my face which made Edward smile, causing me to blush more if it was possible. He reached up an ran the back of his fingers across my cheek, causing the seizure in my heart to double, I was pretty sure I was going to die before I even had to chance to wear any of my new clothes, and the weird thing was I didn't mind. Why did he have this effect on me?

"Ahem." I heard and I jumped back a little to see Alice and Rose standing in front of us with amused smiles on their faces. "Thank you for your services Edward, I believe we are done with you. Emmett and Jasper are waiting upstairs for you, apparently you are late for some videogame showdown that Emmett planned.

"Oh crap!" He said running his hand through his hair, I wished I could do that. WHOA that is a new thought Bella. "Umm…well see you ladies later." He then ran up to the building and inside.

"Not your type huh?" Rosalie said.

"its not what it looked like." I tried to defend.

"Then what was going on?" Alice asked

"He was…we were just…" what did just happen? "nothing, we were talking."

"oh yeah, I always talk to people like this," Rose mimicked Edward's position on Alice and some guy walking but whistled, Alice and Rose laughed. The guy wined when then backed off of eachother.

"Look nothing happened, I am going to my room now."

"Okay," Alice said too easily.

"Thanks for taking me shopping."

"Oh no problem, we are definatley going to do it again now that we are friends!" Alice came over and hugged me. Then Rosalie came over and hugged me.

"It was really nice meeting you, and I know for a fact that I will see you soon so see you tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow? What's tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow is the first meeting for the Christmas dance competition." Alice said matter of factly, "And don't forget that Friday there is a party, I expect to see you there!."

"I'll see you tomorrow, I'll think about the party."

"ok," she said as her and Rose got in her car, then she stuck her head out, "Edward will be there." And with that she drove away.

I went into the dorm building and walked slowly up to my floor thinking about how crazy this day had been. I also could swear that my cheek was tingling, although I was trying my best to resist the urge to reach up and place my hand where Edwards was just minutes before.

When I got to my room I went to put my sneakers in my closet I saw that Alice had hung up all of my new clothes, separated by style, color, length and type. I also noticed although I hoped that I was wrong, that my old stuff wasn't there.

I walked over to my dresser and reluctantly opened my top drawer that I knew would be just as I left it, the drawer that I kept all my bras and underwear in, my heart stopped when I looked inside, nothing looked familiar and there was a note:

_Bella-_

_Don't be mad, you just needed a little update in your wardrobe and I figured you wouldn't want to try this stuff on in the store. I know it will look and fit great!_

_Your newest friend,_

_Alice_

_P.S.- you can keep two hoodies and one pair of pajama pants and a couple of pairs of your old jeans as long as I approve when you wear them, the rest could not be salvaged. I asked Emmett if there was anything you were particually attached to before I got rid of them and he said no, if he was wrong you have until 11pm to plead your case. Love you!_

Great now I am going to have to adjust to all of these new clothes, I wonder if that is what Edward was talking about when he said that Alice was being Alice. But why would he care? He was in on it, he kept me pre-occupied so she could rid my room of clothes. How had my life changed so much in just two days?


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, and this story line originally belongs to dreamscribbler (link in profile). Again, if you missed the last A/N above the story, dreamscribbler wrote chapters one through thirteen.

**BPOV**

I got up the next morning, got dressed and headed to campus early so I could meet Jacob at the student recreation center. He liked to go there to swim in the mornings to practice since he was on the swim team. I had a hard time picking out something to wear since I no longer just had a t-shirt to wear.

As I was trying to decide there was a knock at the door, Alice was here.

"I figured that you would have some trouble using your new closet so I figured I would come help you!"

"I am not going to lie…that was kind of weird." I informed her, being completely honest.

She seemed to think about that for a minute. "I can live with that, I want you to look your best now that you have the clothes to achieve that goal."

She headed straight to the closet and started sorting through it as if she hadn't just hand-picked each piece of clothing in it yesterday.

"It is sunny out; I think you should wear a dress." Alice stated as she pulled one of the five dresses she bought out of my closet. I just stared at her, was she serious? She wants me to wear a dress. "What?"

"There is no reason to wear a dress." I said flatly.

"You don't need a reason, you are wearing it." She said in a sweet but commanding voice.

The dress she picked was light blue, it came to right above my knees, was sleeveless and tied in the back, Alice said something about an empire waist but for the life of me I had no idea what she was talking about. All I knew was that I wasn't used to dresses. She wanted me to wear heels but I told her that I refused and she let up and let me wear a pair of grey flats.

Alice also straightened and pulled back my hair halfway strategically leaving certain strands down to fall in my face.

When she was done I practically ran to my truck to get to campus. I felt like I was life-size Barbie.

When I got to the rec. center Jacob was doing laps, he was really fast. Normally I would wait for him to finish not interrupting his practice but then I remembered his quote in the paper: _Well I guess Cullen gets anyone he wants doesn't he." _Jake knew I didn't like Edward, and yet he decides that if Edward bats his eyelashes I would bend to his will? This thought made me think of Edwards eyes which I had to admit were distracting. I shook my head to clear the thoughts, and then grabbed the nerf football that was sitting with Jake's things on a bench and threw it at his head. He jumped up quickly looking startled.

He looked like he was about to speak when he raised his eyebrows and started to look me over, "Bells, you're wearing a dress."

"I know."

He smiled, "You look good, what's the occasion?" He came over to the side of the pool and lifted himself out. It was always a little awkward when he was standing around in his speedo because, although I had no interest in Jake there was no doubt that he was attractive and now he was standing there attractive and more than half naked and wet in a bathing suit that doesn't hide much. I could never look straight at him which he knew so he would purposely place himself directly in front of me causing me to take sudden interest in the pattern on the tiles on the floor.

"Well, I didn't really have a choice because not only were all my clothes replaced with new ones but I was also dressed this morning by the person who did it."

"And who did that?" he asked as he grabbed a towel and started drying himself off.

"Alice Cullen."

For a second he looked at me like I had three heads, then he recovered and said, "Oh well, I guess it is normal for you to hang out with your boyfriend's sister."

"Jacob Black, you of all people should know better than to think I was dating him." Why would he think I was dating him? I have known Jacob forever; he should have just laughed in the face of whoever wrote that stupid article.

"Bella, you willingly kissed the guy, then spent the entire rest of the night with him, then you kissed him again the next morning what the hell am I supposed to think?" Jacob said seeming more amused than annoyed, which surprised me. Jacob had liked me for a long time, I expected him to be upset that I was dating Edward; uh…rather that he thought I was dating him. Wait, did he say that I kissed him yesterday, why would he think that?

"Jake what are you talking about me kissing him the next morning?" He just reached under his pile of clothes and then tossed me a copy of today's issue of the school paper. I didn't bother reading the headlines, I just saw the picture, and it was the one taken in the prep room yesterday that had stopped me and Edward from kissing. Did they really have nothing better to write about than me and Edward?

"Jake, this isn't what it looks like," I explained for what seemed like the millionth time, it was beginning to seem like my catchphrase, "someone pushed me into him then snapped the picture."

"Sure, sure. Keep telling yourself that Bells." Jake barely seemed phased, just kind of amused by the situation.

"What is your deal today?" I asked, I know it was rude I mean, I didn't miss him constantly flirting with me and trying to get me to go out with him but when did that stop? What happened? What changed?

"What are you talking about?" he seemed confused.

"You seem different; I don't know…" how do I say this without sounding like I am conceited? "I guess I figured that you would be mad or upset thinking I was with Edward…even though I am not and I am mad at you for thinking that I am."

He laughed, he actually laughed at me! "Bells, I am sorry to have to tell you like this but…I kind of met someone." He paused. "I guess I have stopped pining over you, I didn't even realize it."

"YOU MET SOMEONE? Who? When? Why are you just telling me? Jake these are things that you should tell me immediately!" Jacob Black, my best guy friend who wasn't friends with my brother, who has never had a girlfriend for God only knows what reason, who has only liked one person that I know of ( which was me and he made sure that I knew every time that I saw him) finally met someone.

I was really excited for Jake, but I suddenly felt a little weird, he didn't like me anymore. I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

"Well…you have to promise that you won't get mad." He said, and slipped on a pair of basketball shorts.

That had me intrigued, who would he have met that I would be mad about, "Jake I swear I won't be mad, just tell me."

"It was two weeks ago, and its…Nessie."

"Nessie…like as in my cousin Renesseme?" Jacob nodded. I had completely forgotten that she went here since we hardly ever talked anymore. We used to be really close when we were little, but when Charlie and Rene, my parents, got divorced we stopped having family gatherings and I just sort of lost touch with Nessie. Now I only saw her occasionally at Christmas. "How did you meet her?"

"Well I went with Emmett to the party that weekend and she was there, I couldn't keep my eyes off of her then when I finally got the courage to go talk to her we just hit it off and have been together ever since." Jake got a certain sparkle in his eyes as he thought of Nessie and he couldn't keep the smile off his face, it really was adorable to see.

"Aww Jake that is awesome!" I jumped up and gave him a hug.

"Bella, don't tell me you are trying to steal my man away from me now, you had your chance." I heard a sweet voice behind me. I turned around to see my cousin standing there with a smile on her face.

Nessie had long perfectly curled brown hair; she had a fair complexion and hazel eyes. She was gorgeous too, and looked so great coupled with Jake.

I smiled at her statement, "honey he is all yours."

She laughed and gave him a quick kiss. "Jake, are you walking me to class today or are you still doing laps?"

"I can walk you to class. How can I pass up getting to walk around campus with the two hottest girls on campus?"

Jake locked his stuff in a locker and pulled on a white tank top, and then we left the rec center.

"So are you coming to the party tomorrow night Bella?" Renesseme asked.

"Party?"

"Yeah, after the game, you know at Eric's house. I have seen Emmett there every time since the whole football team is always there but I have never seen you."

"Oh," I started, "I have only been there to pick Emmett up, and I am really not into parties."

"What!? Bella you should come, they are so much fun! And you never know who you might meet." She glanced up at Jake with a grin. How sweet…barf. Whoa, am I seriously jealous about this?

"I don't know, it's not really my thing."

"Come on Bells, it will be fun! We will be there!" Jake pleaded.

"Yeah Bella, you just have to come!" Nessie added.

I guess I had no choice, "I guess I could come for a little while."

"YAY!" Nessie exclaimed, "It will be great!"

We walked together to the Chemistry and Physics building where Renesseme had her first class, and I tried to distract myself while they said their sweet goodbyes. I was quite amazed how close they seemed for having only been together for a short time.

When she finally went to class Jacob insisted on walking me to my class even though I told him that he didn't have to. He just kept saying that he didn't want me to attract a mugger the way I was dressed which made me punch him in the arm playfully.

"So," I said to Jake as we neared the history building, "you and Nessie are really close."

"Yeah, honestly Bells, I think I am in love with her." I stopped walking and he turned to face me with a goofy smile on his face. "I know that sounds crazy, but I get this amazing feeling when I am around her like…like everything is right with the world just because she is in it."

I felt tears stinging my eyes, that was the most romantic thing I had ever heard anyone say in my life, I didn't know this side of Jake.

"Why are you crying?" he looked worried.

I shook my head, "That was just so sweet Jake. Have you told her yet?"

"No, I don't want to scare her away. Plus I want the timing to be perfect." I could almost see him forming a plan. I didn't know what to say so I just jumped up and hugged him for the second time today.

He laughed and I could feel his whole body shake, "what is this for?"

"I am just happy for you Jake. You are so happy." _Without me._ Bella stop with these thoughts, this is Jake; you have always wanted him to be over you!

"Thanks Bells. I bet you are happy I will stop harassing you now huh." I forced a short laugh and let go of him.

We were walking the rest of the way towards the building when I heard this loud rumbling noise, like a motor. It was getting louder. I was just turning to see what it was when Jake pulled me towards him.

Some idiot on a motorcycle was joyriding through campus and almost ran me down, even though he had as much space as he wanted on the other side of me.

"WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING ASSHOLE!" Jake yelled then turned to me, "are you ok?"

I just stood there for a second before answering, "Yeah, I'm fine."

I said bye to Jake, he told me to be careful and reminded me that I had to come to the party tomorrow night. When I walked into the building I noticed Edward and Emmett walking with a group of girls. Ugh…I forgot I was going to have to see them. This day was already sucking.

I walked into the classroom and sat in my usual seat near the door. I got numerous glares from the girls sitting in the corner where Em and Edward sit; I just looked away and started taking my notebook and pen out of my book bag.

Angela walked in and sat diagonal from me, I hadn't seen her this morning and she looked quite surprised to see the outfit I was wearing. I didn't get the chance to tell her about Alice's clothing swap. Instead of asking she just said one word that summed up everything, "Alice."

"Alice." I repeated to confirm her thoughts. She smiled and pulled out the next book in the series she was reading. She was going through those things faster than a box of cereal. I still didn't get what was so intriguing about vampires, but apparently this one included vampires and werewolves…yay. She was so weird sometimes but I loved her.

When Emmett and Edward entered the room followed by their living shadow of girls I suddenly felt the need to find the water bottle I had thrown in my book bag earlier.

"Hey Bella,"

I jumped, nearly having a heart attack, and would have fallen completely out of my desk if the arms connected to the body that harbored that voice hadn't caught me. He chuckled. Since when did Edward Cullen greet me when he entered the classroom?

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Are you ok?" he looked worried, but a smile played on his lips.

"I'm fine." I said shortly, pulling my arms out of his grasp and sitting straight while looking down at my paper. He continued to his desk on the other side of the room.

I am such an idiot. Why did I jump so much when he said my name? Leave it to me to fa… OH MY GOD. I AM WEARING A DRESS. What if someone saw up it? Did I fall that far? Did Edward catch me in time? Did he block anyone else from seeing? Is that why he was trying not to smile? Jerk, think because you are gorgeous that you have a right to see up every girls dress? He probably did it on purpose. No he didn't, he isn't that bad of a person…is he? Since when did I care?

I was still blabbering to myself inside my head when I heard a familiar voice in my ear breaking my frantic thoughts.

"You look good enough to eat today." It was James, and I felt that weird chill go down my spine, and my stomach dropped.

I slowly turned around. He was sitting behind me today, and leaning in closer than I thought so when I turned his face was just inches from mine.

"Umm…thanks?"

"Trust me, the pleasure is all mine." He ran his finger tips from my earlobe down my jaw line. "So, have you thought about going out with me tomorrow night?"

"Umm…" I swallowed hard. I completely forgot that he had asked me out for tomorrow night, and I couldn't bring me to the party because Em would flip out. Did I even want to go out with this guy? I mean, yes he was hot, but I didn't know anything about him besides that. "I am really sorry, I have plans with my cousin tomorrow night and I really can't back out of them."

For a second what looked like anger flickered across his features, and then turned to disappointment, "Ouch. That is a rejection if I ever heard one."

"No, I didn't mean to...it's just that I haven't seen her in a while and she begged me to spend time with her tomorrow night and... im sorry." I tried to apologize; I really hadn't meant to hurt the guy.

"Well…" he had a sudden flicker in his eyes, "you have a break after this class today don't you?"

I nodded my head, how did he know that?

"Since you can't go out to dinner tomorrow, how about we get lunch today?" I had to think. I mean it was only lunch right? But something in the back of my mind was telling me to say no. It was probably just Emmett though; I could practically feel him staring at us. But there had to be a reason that Emmett didn't like him. I mean Emmett liked everyone, except James. But why hadn't he told me his reasoning except that, 'he isn't a good person.' James grabbed my hand and ran his thumb across my knuckles. "Please?"

What harm could lunch really do? "Sure." A smile broke out across his face; it didn't look like an 'I am excited for our lunch date smile', it looked kind of mischievous, I started to get worried. Suddenly I was wondering about what he said to me earlier about how _edible_ I looked, and the thought made me blush. I just turned around and looked straight ahead for class to start.

But of course Emmett was making his way over.

"Bella, why don't you come sit with us today?" I slowly brought my eyes up to meet his. Why would I want to sit with him and _Edward_?

"Emmett, I always sit here, plus there is nowhere to sit over there."

I notice he was glaring behind me at James, I wondered what his response was, but I didn't want to look. Emmett's Jaw clenched and then he looked back down at me, "I think it is time for new scenery, I'll make room." He picked up my books and by book bag and then grabbed my hand and pulled me to the other side of the room.

On the walk over I noticed that the entire row next to Emmett's had shifted back one so the seat that Edward normally sat in that was right next to Em's was now empty waiting for me to sit in, which meant I now had to sit in front of Edward. I took my new seat as the professor walked into the room.

He was about to start teaching when his eyes landed on me, "Bella Swan, since when do you sit front and center?" I just shut my eyes and shook my head hoping he would let it go, "oh well, the things you do for love huh?" At that comment my eyes shot open and my face grew hot and I tried to defend myself but he just put his hands up and started his lecture.

I slouched back in my desk and let my head fall back, this day was insane, it was only then that I remembered that Edward sat behind me, I looked up and he was looking down at me smirking. I immediately sat up, straight as a board, determined not to move for the remainder of the class.

"Ok class today we are going to do something a little bit different. We are going to work in pairs on an assignment, I want you and your partner to come up with a conversation that Aristotle and Socrates would have had with each other. The topic can be completely up to you. Your goal is to portray their characteristics, ideals and beliefs through their responses. I am going to pick the partners." Dr. Derham started pairing off the class, mainly just whoever was sitting behind or next to someone, although he caught on with people who were usually talking and would suddenly pair up people he figured didn't know each other. I was surprised at how observant he was.

I was hoping that this would work to my advantage, I assumed because of his comment he thought Edward and I were dating and would not pair us up to work together, "ok Emmett why don't you work with…" the girl behind him was already working with the girl behind her, so next would be me, and if he skipped me would be Edward, "…Ashley. Bella you and Edward could work together…" then he attempted to finish with the class before being interrupted by Ashley.

"Excuse me professor, but I don't think it is fair that they get to work together if you broke up Blake and Mahkayla from working together just because they were dating." Clearly Miss. Ashley just wanted to work with Edward, but I could not help but feel really annoyed that she would butt in.

"Ashley," Emmett stated, "don't get your panties in a bunch, they aren't dating."

I still hadn't turned around but I couldn't help but chuckle imagining her face at Em's comment.

"You aren't?" Dr. Derham looked so upset at this news. I just looked at him and shook my head slowly. He looked like I just told him that there was no Santa Claus, I never thought that he knew who I was let alone cared who I was dating.

He finally looked away and finished pairing off the class and told us to start working. This meant that I would have to turn around and actually look at Edward again.

When I turned around Edward had a friendly smile on his face, "hey."

"Hi."

"I think we might have broken his heart," he said nodding towards Dr. Derham's desk who was looking over at us sadly.

I shrugged, "It's not our fault,"

"I am sorry I didn't warn you about Alice hiding your clothes, she told me not to."

Why was he trying to make small talk, we just had to get this stupid assignment done.

"Its fine, you didn't have to, it's not like we are friends." Wow that was mean, "I mean, we barely know each other." I looked at his face, he looked hurt. I got a weird feeling, it was almost like pain. I had hurt him, I didn't mean to, and now all I wanted was to see him smile again. But how? "Do you know she came to dress me this morning?"

He raised his perfect eyebrows, but still wasn't smiling; I clearly had to work harder. I leaned in closer like I was telling him some big secret.

"She figured I wouldn't know what to do with myself and these con-fangled things they call clothes, especially these here dresses." I tried my best to copy the accent that Jasper occasionally let show from his past in Texas, "She practically had to beat me into this one. Then ugh...dont get me started on the torture she did to my hair…seriously, no offense but I think your sister is insane. Completely loveable, but insane." That crooked smile was planted on that beautiful face when I looked at him again, and it brought a smile to mine.

"I am sorry I was mean, I didn't mean to be." I apologized.

"Don't worry about it, after hearing about what Alice did to you I think I would be mean to any Cullen too." I giggled…I Bella Swan giggled...what on earth was happening to me...I DO NOT giggle.

We worked on our project deciding to make it about how Aristotle and Socrates would react if they knew how the world today was. I let Edward write it because his beautiful handwriting made mine look like chicken scratch. During the assignment we would joke and laugh and I don't know…it was fun. He was really enjoyable to be around. Maybe he was just trying to prove me wrong. Maybe it was because Emmett was right next to us.

While we were working Dr. Derham came over and told us that he would promise not to tell anyone if we were dating if we admitted it, and Edward let him down easy telling him how we just really met the other day so it would be impossible for us to date, that and the fact that I was his best friends little sister. Being as weird as he is Dr. Derham told us to let him know when we start dating, because he is just so sure that we will. I told him not to hold his breath. When he walked away we just laughed. I guess this is ok; I could be friends with Edward. I mean I need a new friend since Jake will probably be too busy with Nessie anyway.

When class was over we handed in our assignment and made our way out of the classroom.

"Hey," Edward started as we walked out of the classroom, "would you like me to buy you that coffee I owe you today?"

"Sorry I kind of have plans for lunch today." I answered, regretfully…seriously? I just spent an hour and fifteen minutes with him, why would I want to spend more time with him?

"Oh, ok well maybe-"

"Ready to go?" James said interrupting Edward mid-sentence.

I forced a smile, "sure. See you later." I tried to avoid eye contact with my brother who I knew was now probably about to freak out. I heard him yelling at Edward as we exited the building.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, and this story line originally belongs to dreamscribbler (link in profile). Again, if you missed the last A/N above the story, dreamscribbler wrote chapters one through thirteen.

**EPOV**

"Where did Bella go?" Emmett asked when he got out of the classroom and met me in the hallway. Apparently he didn't notice Bella leaving, and I so did not want to be the one to answer that question. He was going to flip out, so instead of saying it I just nodded toward Bella walking down the hall with _him._ The second he got his answer his face turned beet red. Uh oh.

"YOU LET HER LEAVE WITH HIM?" I was in for it. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"Emmett, what was I supposed to do, it isn't like she would have listened to me if I tried to stop her anyway." It wasn't like I wanted her to go with him.

I could tell that Emmett was working hard to come up with a plan, "Ok, here is what you are going to do. I can't miss class today because I have a test, but since you are the idiot that let my little sister go somewhere with that asshole you have to follow them, watch them. If he so much as breathes on her, you take him down, and knock him out. I would tell you to take no prisoners, but I want to deal with him myself."

"What did this guy do that you are freaking out so much?" I was worried for Bella.

"He doesn't treat girls very well, he uses them until he gets what he wants from them which is normally…well he isn't getting it from Bella ok…you have to go make sure he doesn't touch her! GO!"

I practically ran to catch up to them, I stayed a good distance behind that if I needed to I could jump at him and take him out but if they turned around it wouldn't look like I was purposely walking the same way.

This day was killing me! First as I was walking to class I see Bella hugging that guy, Jake, who looks like he just crawled out of the shower and threw on basketball shorts and a white tank top. She jumped into his arms, and they laughed. I wanted more than anything to be the one holding her in my arms making her laugh, even though I knew I would probably never have a chance. Why did he get to hold her like that?

As I was tormenting myself with why's when Jasper, Emmett and his group of followers came up and joined me and I asked him what was going on with Bella and Jake, he said it was nothing, that Jake had a girlfriend that that he and Bella were just friends. That made me feel a little better. I stayed and talked with Jasper for a little bit before Emmett and I, and a few of the girls made our way to class.

Then of course I had startled Bella making her fall out of her desk, I felt so bad! I just wanted to say hi, but no, I am the jerk that makes her slip and fall the one day she is wearing a beautiful dress and gets embarrassed. And do I apologize like a gentleman? NO, I stand there smirking at her. Jerk.

And then of course I get the confirmation that Bella doesn't like me when she just blatantly admits to me that we are not friends. I could practically feel someone punching me in the gut, _or higher_, when she said that.

Now I get to stalk her and this creep and watch as he tries to get into her pants…or dress. Please don't fall for him Bella, PLEASE!

I followed James and Bella to the Bernwell Cafeteria where they were getting lunch. Ha, some lunch date taking her to eat on campus. I bet he is going to use his meal card to pay. It was good for me that he didn't take her off campus; it would have been much harder to follow them. I made a waffle and grabbed some fruit and a yoo-hoo and got in the checkout line two people behind them.

I made sure to sit a table away from them behind James so if anyone saw me it would be Bella, James would be more inclined to leave, I think. I am really not good at this stalking thing, it _is _my first time doing it.

I wish I was closer so I could hear what that slime ball was saying to her, but all I could tell was that she looked uncomfortable. He was leaning in to her and just brushed a piece of hair off her face.

I hadn't realized that I was flat out glaring at James and Bella until I heard Jasper, "Dude, you seriously look like a creeper." I jumped a little and turned my head to look at him, Alice was with him.

"Are you stalking your girlfriend?" Alice asked with a playful grin on her face. I didn't have time for this; I couldn't let my attention wander away from Bella.

"Emmett told me to." I figured this would clear up anything she could throw at me for watching Bella.

"So you admit that you are dating?" yeah, I wish.

I pulled my eyes away from Bella to glare at my annoying sister for a second. "No, Emmett asked me to watch her while she was around this creep because he doesn't trust him."

"Oh," she said simply, and then she and Jasper sat down at the table with me. "You are so not dressed for spying Edward. You are wearing light colors, it is a well known fact that spies wear black." I let out a loud sigh to let her know that I was not even going to dignify that with a response. "I am just saying, no need to get all huffy about it Mr. secret agent man."

At that moment James leaned in to Bella, I gripped the edges of my tray. The color seemed to drain from her face and her eyes got wide. That is it, I had to go over there, I am going to- _CRACK_- I looked down to see that my tray had snapped in two. Oops…oh well, nothing I can do about it now, I had to go help Bella.

**BPOV**

Lunch with James was…for lack of a better word…interesting. We went over to the Bernwell Cafeteria where he told me to get anything I wanted. I decided to get homemade (or I guess they are cafeteria made) nachos, they were by far my favorite cafeteria food. James paid, even though I told him that I could pay for my own food, and we sat down at one of the tables.

I was really uncomfortable because all he got was a drink, "are you not eating?"

"No, I am just thirsty." He answered.

"Oh, we didn't have to get lunch if you weren't hungry." I told him, "I feel bad that I am eating and you aren't."

"I have no problem watching you." He said in a low voice that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. It was too late to back out now though. We sat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, me slowly eating my nachos and him watching me, very intently. I had to say something.

"So are you having a good day?" Very generic Bella, but I guess that was better than this silence.

He smiled, "of course, it is the day I finally got some alone time with you isn't it?"

"Why do you _want_ alone time with me?" I asked without thinking. I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer anymore; I was starting to think that maybe it was more than him liking me.

His smile turned playful "is it a crime to want to spend time with a gorgeous girl such as you?" I could feel the blush spread across my face so I looked down at my food. Some hair fell in my eyes, buy before I could reach up to push it back behind my ear James reached over to do it.

"Umm…thanks," This whole lunch thing was really awkward, and not the I really like him and don't know what to say awkward, but the I really don't think I should be anywhere with him awkward. I should have listened to Emmett. Why does he just keep staring at me like that?

He leaned in across the table to get closer to me, "Do you want to go back to my room?" he whispered close to my ear. I could practically hear my heart stop mid-beat. WHAT?!?! I just sat stiffly my eyes wide and shook my head from side to side. "Why not, it would be quieter, easier to talk." Talk, right…I've seen this movie before.

"I…I really should get ready for class," I said and started to get up.

I saw him roll his eyes, "Bella, come on, I didn't mean it like that. I just want to get to know you." Right.

"I'm sorry I have class."

"Not for another 45 minutes." Crap. "listen, I am sorry it came out wrong, I really just want to talk. I like you Bella, a lot." I didn't say anything. What if he was telling the truth and I was just freaking out because Emmett has put it in my head that he isn't a good person and I am judging him without giving him a chance? What do I do.

"Hey Bella," I turned to see a somewhat flustered Edward standing next to me. I had never been more happy to see him in my life.

"Hey."

"Umm, Alice needs to talk to you about tonight and was wondering if you could come over to her table talk to her, she has class in like 40 minutes so it would have to be now." I swear I could kiss either him or Alice or both of them at this moment.

"Why didn't she just come over here herself?" James asked.

Edward narrowed his eyes at him, "she only has 40 minutes to eat and talk to Jasper, Bella and myself, I volunteered to let her start eating while I found Bella."

"Sorry James, I really have to go," I got up and grabbed my tray, Edward had grabbed my book bag for me.

"I will see you later Bella." James said.

I didn't respond.

I followed Edward to where Alice and Jasper were sitting, and sat down with them.

"Hey Bella!" Alice greeted me. I noticed that she wasn't eating anything, she didn't even have a tray, she just had a cup of what looked like coffee or hot chocolate or something hot like that, I doubt that she needed any caffeine.

"Hey, Alice, Jasper." He smiled and nodded to me. I noticed that the only tray on the table was snapped in half with half of a waffle on it. Was that Alice's? "What happened to the tray?" Alice and Jasper looked at Edward.

"Faulty craftsmenship." He said simply, as if that explained how it split in two. I just looked at him like he was crazy while Alice giggled. Did Edward break it? "It was an accident," he explained, "I guess I don't know my own strength sometimes."

"Oh," I said. "So what did you need to talk to me about Alice?"

Alice looked up at me like I had two heads, glanced at Edward, then looked confidently at me. "Well I just wanted to let you know 1. That you look amazing in that dress today as I told you you would, and 2. That I brought you some shorts and a tank top to wear tonight at the dance meeting since we will start going over the actual dance moves. Also, Edward here will be your partner."

She said that all in one breath, and I almost missed that last little tidbit. I was dancing with Edward? I didn't know what to say, I didn't want to insult him again like I did in class by asking why I had to dance with him, but I was curious as to how this was picked. "When did you pick all this out?"

"The clothes or Edward?"

"Both."

"I grabbed the clothes while you were putting your dress on, figuring you wouldn't think to grab anything to change in either because you didn't think you would need it because we wouldn't start dancing, you forgot about the meeting or you were trying to get out of it. Edward was chosen as your partner by Emmett; he called me last night and told me to make sure that you two were paired up. Apparently he doesn't trust anyone else but Edward or Jasper here not to cop a feel on you, and sorry but I would like to dance with Jasper."

Emmett was now making decisions for me? What if I wanted to dance with someone else? What if I wanted to dance with…I don't know Tyler Crowley or something. Why should he decide who I get to dance with?

"Plus," Alice continued, "The school seems to be going nuts over your relationship, "I was about to interrupt but she continued "no matter how non-existant it is. I mean it isn't just students it is teachers too. I think that will draw in some major points with the judges having you two do a little dance together on your own. It might just guarantee the win! It will be perfect."

Wait, I am dancing with Edward…by myself? But…I thought this was a group thing..i am not even a cheerleader…why…how…

"Well we better get going, Jasper and I are meeting some friends for lunch. See you later Bella."

Did she just say lunch? Did she not have class? I looked up at Edward who looked embarrassed. His eyes were closed and his face had turned slightly red.

"I thought you said…" I started to say, but he interrupted.

"I am sorry, Emmett asked me to follow you to make sure James didn't make a move on you, and then I saw that you looked really uncomfortable and somewhat scared and I figured that you could use some help and I just had to get you away from him so I came over and I lied to you and I am sorry. Please don't be mad." He rambled, talking fast must run in the Cullen family. But I did catch one thing, Emmett made him follow me.

I guess I can't be overly mad, he did get me out of that really uncomfortable situation, but I cannot believe that Emmett would have me followed. Does he really think that I would be stupid enough to…ugh…I don't even want to know what he was thinking.

"Emmett," was all I could get out. Edward's eyes got wide.

"Don't be mad at him, he is just looking out for you."

"I guess. Well I should really be getting to class." This time I really did have to get to class. "Thanks for helping me out back there."

"Do you want me to walk you there?" I felt fluttering in my stomach, he just offered to walk me to class?

"Y-You don't have to, I think I can make it." Did I just stutter?

"I would like to though," he leaned in closer to whisper something, "James is watching you and I would prefer not to let you walk there by yourself." Oh he is probably just acting on Emmett's orders. There goes the fluttering, and bring on the anger. Does he really think that I cannot take care of myself.

I didn't feel like arguing so I just got up and put my book bag on my shoulders, I went to grab my tray but Edward had put his tray, or rather the pieces of his tray, on top of mine and was carrying it to the trash.

Edward walked beside me as we walked back to the history building where I had my political science class. I noticed that we were getting a lot of looks again like we had the other day when we were walking together, at least this time I knew that they thought that we were together.

"You don't have to walk with me, I am sure I will be ok." I didn't want him to feel like he had to follow my brother's orders.

"I want to walk with you," There was that stupid fluttering again, "unless you don't want me to walk with you."

"No, I just didn't want you to feel obligated to walk with me. I know you are just doing it for Emmett."

"Says who?" he asked with a smile making its way across his face. Wait, so he really did want to walk with me? Impossible, he is just being nice.

I was at my classroom, so I said goodbye to Edward and went into my classroom. Only an hour and fifteen minutes until I got to see him again. I mean had… until I HAD to see him again…its not like I WANTED to see him again…right?

Class dragged on forever, but I was kind of glad because I was really in no rush to make an idiot of myself attempting to dance. How did I get talked into this? Maybe I could get out of it. I had a feeling that if I tried to convince Alice myself it would be a failure, maybe I could go through Jasper. I could tell him how impossible it was, I mean he knows me better than Alice does, he would understand why I couldn't do it. Jasper then could tell Alice that it is insane to think that I could pull of any dance move if they expect to win. Then I would be free of this mess. I just hoped I could get Jasper on my side.

After class I walked over to the auditorium where we were meeting, it was where we, or if my plan works they, will be performing their Christmas dance routine in about a month. The date was set for December 17th.

When I walked in I immediately wanted to walk back out, there were so many attractive girls on the cheerleading team and they were probably so much more…graceful than I could ever be. I scanned the auditorium to find Jasper but before I could spot him someone pounced on me, and it was none other than the one person I didn't want to see until after speaking to Jasper. That little pixie like dancer- Alice.

"BELLA! I am so glad you are finally here! I was worried you were going to bail on me! I almost had Edward sit outside your class to make sure that you came directly here." She hugged me then handed me a bag with clothes in it, "here are your clothes, I threw a pair of socks in there because I figured that you wouldn't want to dance barefoot and you wouldn't be ready to dance in those boots. Just be careful because the stage will be a little slippery. The bathroom is that way" She pointed to her right then pranced toward the stage where Jasper was now waiting in plain sight. If I thought it was possible I would think she told him to hide because she knew what I was planning.

The clothes that Alice had grabbed me were just black shorts, that were really really short and a tight light blue tank top. I swear, what was with this girl and clothes that left not much to the imagination?

I really didn't want to go out there dressed like this, maybe if I stayed in the bathroom long enough they would eventually forget about me and I could sneak out. How long would I have to wait though? Ten minutes? Maybe twenty, that seems reasonable right. Twenty minutes is long enough for me to forget information on a test so why couldn't they forget me in that amount of time?

I folded my dress and put it in the bag, I figured it would make too much noise to change back now, then I sat on the toilet seat and brought my knees up to my chest, hoping I could stay like that long enough.

I sat like that for what felt like five minutes, it was really two according to my watch, when I heard someone enter the bathroom.

"Bella, are you ok in here?" It was Rosalie. Maybe if I am quiet she will leave, "I know you are in here, stall number three, the only locked one. I may be blonde but I am not stupid."

Crap I am caught, so much for my master plan. I reluctantly stood up and opened the door. "Please don't make me go out there, I can't do this."

"Bella, you will be fine. Alice and I are excellent teachers and I hear that Edward is an excellent dancing partner! Plus, the only dance dancing that you will have to do it the last group song, your duet with Edward isn't really dancing at all." She tried to assure me.

"Wait…this is already all planned out completely?"

"Oh yeah, Alice will explain everything if you would just get your cute butt out there!"

I guess I am really doing this.

When I walked out everyone turned and looked at me, I realized that all of the girls were wearing short shorts, so at least I wasn't alone. I was still uncomfortable. I walked quickly down the aisle and slid into a seat.

"Ok! Now that Bella is finally here I can fill everyone in on what we are going to be doing! Ok, so I have planned it all out. Since last year Lauren and Jessica took lead Rosalie and I will be taking lead, and actually, Bella will have a lead also since she is going out of her way to help out, anyone who has a problem with that can leave right now, unless it is Bella because you are staying. We have decided that Rosalie's partner will be Emmett Swan, and they will dance to The Pussycat Dolls version of "Santa Baby", they can have up to 2 groups dancing in the background. I will be dancing with Jasper Hale to the Snowmeiser/Heatmeiser song from the movie The Year Without a Santa Claus, I can have up to 5 girls on my backup and 5 guys on Jasper's. Bella Swan and Edward Cullen will be dancing to "Baby It's Cold Outside" it will be the version that Dean Martin did but I am thinking that they should actually sing instead of lipsync like the rest of us, they will be by themselves. Our big finish will include everyone and it will be to Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You." Questions?."

Questions? Of course I had questions!?

I immediadetly raised my hand, Alice sighed and pointed to me, "Why do I have to sing? And why that song?"

"Bella, Bella, Bella," she shook her head, "That song is PERFECT, and that is all I am going to say on that question. As to the singing, I do not think that since there is a lot of overlapping singing in this song it would be difficult to just lip sing this song, plus there will be barely any dancing and, just you trying to leave and Edward trying to get you to stay. You will mainly be walking. The singing will make up for the lack of choreography in the judging points. You will focus on body language. I think the judges will go nuts since you are pretty much the celebrity couple on campus-" I went to interrupt but she held up her hands and continued, "even if you aren't dating it will be great. You both will learn the lines and learn to interact to make it convincing that you Edward," she turned to him, "want to be with her more than anything, and you Bella," she turned back to me, "you know you SHOULD leave but some part of you wants to stay. Work on that **together** and get back to me. I will check up on you two periodically over the next two weeks to check on your progress, at the end of two weeks, it better be presentable at least."

So I have to spend time with Edward…alone…singing…while he maneuvers chasing me around trying to stop me from leaving. Super.

"Alice what if I can't sing?" I asked honestly, I have never really been one to try the whole chorus thing.

"Bella, you will be perfect, I have a great feeling about this, and I am NEVER wrong about these things." I let out a loud sigh as a sigh of surrender and Alice continued with her directing, "Ok, since only Bella had questions, we are going to work on the big finish since everyone will be a part of that, so grab your partner if you don't have one come see me obviously Rose is still with Emmett, I am still with Jasper and Bella is still with Edward, I want these pairings to remain consistent throughout the performance. When you have your partner stand with them in a space on the stage, everyone else come see me."

Alice was surrounded with a group of people and I slowly made my way to the stage. This was not going to be fun.

"Hey," Edward said as he got closer to me.

"Hey."

"I'm sorry about Alice, she can be pretty demanding sometimes, she just gets these plans in her head then they have to work out the way she sees them." He tried to explain.

"It's not your fault, I just feel bad that she overestimates my abilities. I cannot dance or sing."

"Oh I am sure you are great at both," he assured me.

I just rolled my eyes.

Alice finished pairing up people and then one of the worst experiences of my life began.

Practice was horrible. HORRIBLE. I fell so many times thanks to the stupid socks that Alice gave me to wear, and the worst time was when we were practicing the end of the song where we are apparently supposed to run and jump onto our partner….yeah..i fell and about cracked my head open on the stage, luckly Edward grabbed me and stopped me about an inch away from the stage floor. At that point I gave up completely and told them I was leaving. I had enough for one day. My legs hurt, my arms hurt. And I swear my whole body was tingling from all of the contact I had with Edward. Maybe he was radioactive or something. They all decided that practice was over and everyone left, well everyone who was still there. Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Lauren Mallory and Jessica Stanley all left claiming that they had other engagements, Jasper I knew could just get out of it since Alice was directing people and I am sure knew it all already, Emmett I knew was full of shit, I don't know how he got out of it, Rosalie probably knew the whole routine already, and I really don't know about the two girls.

As I was walking to my car I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following me, but no one was ever there when I turned around. The idiot with the motorcycle however did almost run me down again, this time right before I got to my truck. UGH I swear, is there a target on my back or something?

I got back to my dorm safe and sound, except my IPod died…completely so I couldn't play it in the cab of the truck in place of the broken radio so I had to ride back in silence. Just another thing to add to this horrible day, "what next?" I asked no one.

I got out of the truck and started walking to the building..and of course..since I HAD to ask, it started raining. It wasn't just rain though. It was a storm. A bad storm, I hate storms.

If I am completely honest I get scared when there are storms. I know, it is totally insane, I am a junior in college and afraid of a storm, but I can't help it I have always been afraid of them, well maybe not always. I guess I am sleeping in Emmett's room tonight. Emmett always lets me sleep on his floor when there is a storm since he has his own room, he used to let me sleep in his bed when we were little, but now that would just be weird. It always calms me down knowing that he is in the room.

I ran inside the building and went straight up to my room to change and shut of my computer so the storm didn't fry it.

I tried calling Emmett but he didn't pick up his phone, I figured that he would be up in his room probably just playing video games or something. I would just go up there.

I climbed the stairs the three floors, more floors to the seventh floor where Emmett's room was and walked to his room. I noticed Edward walking out of the Elevator.

"Hey, long time no see" He greeted me.

"right." I answered. I was really anxious to just get to Emmett's room, although for some reason I started relaxing with Edward being there. "What brings you up here?"

"oh, I have a game of Emmett's he wanted back tonight. You?"

"I…" Well I don't want to tell him the truth, he would think I was stupid. Why do I care? "I just need to talk to Emmett."

"Oh."

We walked together to Emmett's door and I knocked. There was no answer. I tried again. Again no response. I figured I would try the door, sometimes Em leaves the door unlocked which is stupid but convienient for me when I want to go in. I turned the door knob, it was unlocked so I pushed the door open…I immediately regretted that decision.

Emmett was…he was…oh my God is that Rosalie! IS THAT WHY THEY LEFT?!? EW EW EW EW. This mental image was never going to leave my mind.

I immediately turned around and crashed into Edward.

"SHUT THE DOOR!" Emmett yelled.

"Dude, you really need to learn to lock this thing." Edward pulled the door shut, and I took off down the Hallway. I cannot believe I just walked in on my brother having sex. I honestly thought this day couldn't get worse.

I turned to go down the stairs and, before I knew what was happening my feet were out from under me, I was waiting for the sharp pain of my face hitting the corner of the stair, but it didn't come. For the second time today Edward Cullen saved me from bashing my skull in on some hard surface. This time after I straightened out I wrapped my arms around his neck clinging to him. He just saved my life.

"Looks like they just mopped the stairs, why don't we take the elevator?"

I couldn't speak, I couldn't think, I just nodded.

He hit the button and when the elevator got to the floor we got in, now all I had to do was go to my room and try my best to sleep alone through this stupid storm…there was no way that this day could get worse now.

All of a sudden 3 things happened at once 1. The lights in the elevator flickered and shut off as the elevator shuddered to a halt, 2. I was reminded why I do not take the elevator when there is a storm, 3. I was proven wrong…my day got worse.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, and this story line originally belongs to dreamscribbler (link in profile). Again, if you missed the last A/N above the story, dreamscribbler wrote chapters one through thirteen.

_Previously: BPOV_

_He hit the button and when the elevator got to the floor we got in, now all I had to do was go to my room and try my best to sleep alone through this stupid storm…there was no way that this day could get worse now._

_All of a sudden 3 things happened at once 1. The lights in the elevator flickered and shut off as the elevator shuddered to a halt, 2. I was reminded why I do not take the elevator when there is a storm, 3. I was proven wrong…my day got worse._

**EPOV**

"You have got to be kidding me!" Bella yelled in the darkness of the elevator. "Great, just freakin' great, we are going to die. This is SO not how I wanted to die. I should have known from how horrible this day was that I was going to die. Maybe you should have just let me fall down the stairs, then you wouldn't be about to die with me."

I honestly was pretty freaked out but I had to calm her down or she was going to have a panic attack. I couldn't exactly see her because the emergency lights hadn't come on yet and my eyes hadn't adjusted yet but I just reached out to where her voice was coming from. My fingers touched her hair and grazed down over her ear until my hand rested at the base of her neck. As I did this the dim lights came on. I reached with my free hand and hit the emergency button, then brought my other hand to brace the other side of Bella's head.

"Bella, you have to calm down, we aren't going to die."

"Edward, we are trapped in an elevator, the power is out thanks to the damn storm, and no one knows we are in here. The stupid emergency phone in this one was never replaced after some idiot ripped it out, and the cables are probably about to snap and we will crash to our death! DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!"

"Bella, we aren't going to fall, there is no reason for the cables to snap, and if they do for some reason there are magnets to prevent the fall. Second, someone has to know that we are here, I hit the button. I am not going to let anything happen to you." I tried to assure her that we would be ok.

"Oh and what the hell are you going to do? You are in the same position I am in! Do you really think that you are really that freakin special?"

"Look, maybe we should just sit down, and talk and get our minds off the situation we find ourselves in." I moved my hands so they rubbed her upper arms, "you seem like you need to talk about this bad day of yours." Bella glared at me for a second before slowly and carefully sitting down on the floor. "So, what happened that was so bad today?"

Bella took a few deep breaths then began, "Well why don't I start at the beginning?" I nodded my head signaling her to continue, "I wake up this morning and have to find something to wear from the clothes that aren't mine, well, I guess they are mine now since your sister decided to replace my wardrobe and destroy my old wardrobe. Alice then came over and made me wear a dress today…I do NOT wear dresses. Then I go to see Jake to yell at him for his quote in the paper about us dating and not only do I find out that we are in the paper AGAIN, but what other news does he have for me? Jake, my best friend who has been in love with me for years tells me that he met someone, my cousin none the less. You know that felt great. Then before history class some asshole on a motorcycle almost runs me over. Then of course there was history itself in which Ed-"she stopped for a second, I guess I added to her horrible day. "Well…you made me fall out of my seat and probably gave everyone a show up my dress. Then of course there was my uncomfortable lunch with James who wanted me to go back to his room with him, and then the freakin dance meeting where not only did I find out that I have to SING but I almost died there by falling and hitting my head on the stage marking the second time today that I almost died since motorcycle guy was the first time, then on my way back to the car I felt like someone was following me and then motorcycle guy tried to kill me again. THEN we get back to events you know about you know with Emmett, the stairs- near death experience number four, and now the elevator which is certain death."

Wow, she really was having one hell of a day. Tears were spilling from her eyes although I could tell she was trying to hold them back. I didn't know what to say so I reached over and brushed away her tears, and she closed her eyes. I tried to ignore the normal tingle I felt from touching her skin.

"Why don't we play a game while we wait for someone to fix the elevator?" I suggested, "It will help keep your mind off the fact that we are in here." Maybe if I get her talking about things other than near death experiences and being trapped in an elevator she will cheer up a little and calm down, especially now that she got some of her frustration out.

She looked up at me with sad eyes and I could feel a tug at my heart. "What kind of game do you want to play in a dim stuck elevator? This isn't exactly Toys'r'Us we don't have a selection of board games."

I smiled; I could tell that her mood was getting a little better if she could make a joke. "Maybe we could…we could continue our game of truth or dare from the other day, no materials required."

She thought for a second then said, "There aren't really any good dares we can do in an elevator, especially because I refuse to let either of us make any sudden or harsh movements for fear of the cab falling."

"Ok, we can just ask truth questions then," I suggested, "those are the only ones we have asked so far anyway." Bella nodded and looked down. I was pretty excited, there were so many things that I wanted to know about her, and oddly enough this seemed like the perfect way to find out.

"So," I started, "what's your-"

"It's not your turn." She cut me off.

"What?"

"When we started the game, I asked the first question about Tanya, and then you asked me about why I kissed you, so it isn't your turn. It is my turn." She explained. It made sense, and I didn't really care who went first, as long as I got to ask her everything I wanted to know about her. I nodded for her to continue.

Bella thought for another second before asking, "What really happened to your lunch tray?"

I was going to just ask her trivial things like, what's your favorite kind of music, but apparently we are asking real questions today. Should I tell her the truth?

"It snapped in two." I stated simply.

"That isn't an answer! How did it happen?"

"Isn't that another question?" I asked trying to avoid answering.

"No, it is a follow up which is allowed when the person who was supposed to answer honestly is giving crappy answers like 'it snapped in two'." Uh oh, I think I am making her mad, I guess I better just answer the question.

"Oh, ok." I smiled. "Well, I …"How can I say this without sounding like a stalker? "I noticed James say something to you that made you look really scared, that made me mad because no guy should ever do that to a woman and I might have twisted my tray a little too forcefully."

She was quiet for a second…I knew it she thinks I am a creepy stalker...thanks a lot Emmett. "Now was that so hard?" She finally asked

I smiled, "No, I guess not." Well, I guess it is my turn now; I can't follow that question with asking her favorite music… "Why do you hate me?" it was something that had been bothering me since the first thing that everyone said when the rumor that we were dating started was 'that can't be, Bella hates him.'

Bella looked up at me with wide eyes, "I…I don't h-hate you."

"Bella, you have to tell the truth, and I know there has to be a reason that everyone's first response to the news that we were dating was, "she hates him.", and there also has to be a reason that Emmett thinks it would be hilarious if I went home with you guys one weekend or break, or a reason why you openly glare at me in class. So, why do you hate me?"

Bella stared at the floor for a minute in thought. I didn't think she was going to answer the question at all, but then her head popped up, "you really want to know?"

I nodded.

"Fine, I hated you because I figured you were some arrogant jerk who thought the world revolved around you."

"Why would you think that?" I asked, I had never so much as spoken to her, how could I have given her that impression?

She glared at me, "why? Um, let me see, I'm sure it has something to do with the massive amount of girls that follow you around like a shadow, none of which you have ever given the time of day to, probably because either a. they aren't attractive enough or b. they don't have enough money. It could also have something to do with the fact that you throw money around like it is nothing, and it doesn't help that you are attractive and you use the knowledge of that to your advantage."

I was stunned, and insulted. But I didn't want to start a fight with her when the whole point of this game was to calm her down, even though she was already angry now, not that I wasn't angry myself, "Oh, is that all?"

"No," she replied in a low voice, and then a little louder added, "You insulted my car."

"What?" This just kept getting more ridiculous!

"I went to pick up Emmett at one of the post-game parties and you came out and looked at my truck like it was a pile of trash, and you yelled 'why the hell is she driving that piece of crap.' I love my truck, and I took offense to that statement. Jake rebuilt that truck for me and it runs just as good as your stupid expensive shiny Volvo." I couldn't help but start laughing. I remember Emmett and Jasper telling me that that night was when I wanted to give Bella my Volvo because I thought her truck was unsafe to be driving, but there was no way I was going to tell her that.

"I didn't mean to insult your car, I was…not in the correct state of mind. And as for your other reasons for hating me they are completely unfounded. I don't know about this massive amount of girls, but the girls who follow me around, most are after Emmett, and if they are not I have tried to let them know I am not interested in them. It is not my fault they still try. And for your information it is NOT because of their appearance or wealth, I am not interested in them because I do not know them at all, they only like me because of how I look, or they think they will be popular, and that is shallow which is a big turnoff. I also don't know how I use my looks as an advantage but I'm sorry if you think I do that."

Bella looked embarrassed, "I'm sorry."

"It's ok; it's good to know what you really think of me."

"My turn right?" I nodded, "Do you think we could start over and be friends?"

I smiled,"That is an easy one, absolutely. I would love to be your friend Bella Swan, as long as you no longer hate me that is."

"I don't, I shouldn't have judged you."

"It's ok; I'm sure you aren't the first or last to do so. My turn. Why were you so upset that Jake met someone?" I really wanted to know if she had feelings for Jake, even though after I asked I felt like I might be taking advantage of my newly formed friend status.

"Well…it is just…Jake always told me that one day I would wake up and realize I was madly in love with him and that we would get married and all that jazz. I always told him he was an idiot because I have never thought of him that way. I guess I just always hoped that he was right. I mean I still don't like him that way, I just…he got over me so quickly. It's like one day he was telling me what our kids names would be then the next day he was telling me that his world was better now that he and Nessie are together. I guess I am just…I feel like I have been rejected."

I have got to stop asking these questions, she looks so sad.

"Hey," she looked up at me, "no offense to your cousin, she is cute and all, but anyone would be crazy to want to be with her over you."

She smiled, "it is stupid though, because I didn't WANT to be with him, I just…it felt good to be wanted by someone I guess." I nodded. "So, how many girlfriends have you had and who were they?"

I could feel my face heating up, "well, I…I haven't really ever had an actual girlfriend."

"What?" she asked, clearly in disbelief.

"Yeah, I guess I just, haven't found too many girls who sparked my interest."

It looked like she understood something, "Oh my God, you're gay?"

"What?!?"

"No, it makes total sense, I mean you dress better than any guy I have ever met, you don't find those girls attractive, I have never seen you even check out a girl, I can't believe I didn't see it before."

"But I'm not-"

"Does Emmett know?"

"Bella! I am not gay. I said I haven't found too many, not that I haven't found any. I dress nice because Alice buys my clothes." She didn't look convinced. "I AM NOT GAY!"

"Mmmhmm, whatever you say. I won't tell anyone, I promise."

"I swear!" Bella just laughed, I hope she believed me. "Anyway, same question, how many boyfriends have you had and who are they?"

She was quiet, all signs of joking gone from her face. I didn't think it would be too tough to answer. I figured she didn't date honestly, I know that Emmett scares all the guys away from her anyway.

"I have had one boyfriend, but I can't say who he is." She finally answered.

"Why not?"

"When we decided to end our relationship we made a deal never to tell anyone that we dated, so I would be breaking that deal." She explained. I couldn't let it go that easily.

"You are going to lose the game because of some deal you made with some random guy?" I asked hoping she would give in.

I could tell she didn't want to lose, she probably had at least some of that competitive nerve that Emmett has. "Oh come on, I answered half the question, I just can't tell you who."

"Bella, I'm not going to tell anyone, just tell me who it is. I might not even know him."

She took a deep breath and let it out quickly, "fine, but if you tell anyone I swear I will kill you."

"Are you that ashamed?"

"No, I have nothing against him, I think he is really awesome, we were just better friends than…boyfriend and girlfriend." That sounded familiar, but I guess it is just a common thing.

"Ok, so who is it?"

Another deep breath, "I dated Jasper freshman year."

Did she just say…no she couldn't have said…

"I swear if you tell Alice, or mention anything to Jasper or Emmett I will kill you." She warned.

"You are serious?!" she nodded, "but how is that possible? I would have known, how could we have not known? What about…"

"Jasper roomed with Peter freshman year; it was really easy to avoid you guys. Emmett was being a jerk ignoring me and making me leave whenever I attempted to hang around him and Jasper was there for me. We started hanging out and then we just started dating. We decided it might be weird if anyone knew so we kept it a secret."

I was in shock, "Did you two have sex?" this is one of those questions that guys ask each other, not one that a guy asks a girl who just admitted that she used to date your roommate. If I was unsure of these rules before, her slapping me made me sure. "Sorry, that would be a question for Jasper not you."

"No! You can't ask Jasper you can't tell Jasper you know! And it is none of your damn business if we had sex or not!"

"Oh come on, just tell me, if you don't I am going to ask Jas-"then I remembered something. I remembered going to hang out with Jasper one day freshman year and hearing him moaning and some girl giggling. When I asked him about it he told me it wasn't what I thought, but I never believed him. I mean he would be unbelievably tense and stressed then all of a sudden be calm and easy-going. I felt like I got kicked in the gut. "You were having sex."

"What?"

"I know you were, I heard you two." She looked confused so I explained what I heard and how Jasper acted.

"People can moan for all kinds of reasons besides sex." She defended.

"Oh really?" she nodded, "example."

"Fine, lay down on your stomach."

"Excuse me?"

"Just do it" she demanded. I laid down, and she kneeled down at my side, she seemed to hesitate then started to massage my back. It felt great, after a minute or so I heard a moan escape from my mouth as she pushed a certain spot in my lower back. At that second she stopped, "point proven. Those were the apparent sex noises you heard coming from Jasper's room."

I picked myself up off the floor and got back into sitting position feeling a little more relaxed, I believed Bella completely. "Ok, I believe you. Your question."

"Umm…What's rule number one."

"Can't tell you that."

"Are you serious? You are going to lose this easily? I told you about Jasper."

I guess I could tell her, there weren't really any rules about her knowing, "Ok, but don't tell Emmett you know." She nodded in agreement, "rule number one is a rule that Emmett came up with our freshman year that pretty much says that no one on the football team can enter into a relationship that is more than just a friendly one with another teammate's sister."

"But Emmett said it only applied to him, what did that mean?"

She didn't miss a thing, "Well this rule stayed in place up until this semester, when Rosalie came here, obviously Emmett wanted to be able to date her so he allowed exceptions. The only people who know there are exceptions are me, since I gave Jasper the ok to ask out Alice and Emmett since he made the rule, and Jasper. See…Emmett made the rule because he didn't want any of the guys to make a move on you. I am surprised Jasper asked you out, there were severe threats on anyone who went near you."

Bella was not taking this well, she jumped up and started yelling, "EMMETT SWAN IS SUCH A HYPOCRITE! He comes up with some stupid rule and then changes it when it doesn't benefit him anymore?? And who the hell is he to decide who I can and cannot date? I swear I am going to go back up there and-"

Suddenly the elevator shuddered again and Bella's mood changed from anger to fear I stood up and held her. I assured her that it was ok, that it was just working again not falling.

**BPOV**

I really regretted jumping up, I should have known better than to make such a sudden movement. Suddenly the elevator was quaked and started moving. I couldn't breathe, we were going to die, I just knew it. Edward jumped up and put his arms around me. He kept telling me that it was going to be ok, and I wanted to believe me, but I felt like this was the end, but then again…suddenly spending my last moment on earth in his arms didn't seem like such a bad thing.

We heard a ding and the doors opened and we both rushed out of the elevator. We were only on the 5th floor but we didn't care. I swear I could have kissed the tile if I wouldn't have been too embarrassed to do it in front of Edward.

I honestly enjoyed spending time with Edward; I had fun and defiantly didn't think about how scared I was for most of the time. I cannot believe I told him about me and Jasper, and I was mortified when he asked me if we had sex. We never did, but I was so embarrassed to be talking about it with him. Ugh, but hearing about Emmett…I could have gone back up there and killed him if I wasn't afraid of walking in on him again.

Now all I wanted to do was go in my room and try to get to sleep through this horrible storm. Oh man, I told Angela I wouldn't be there tonight so Ben could spend the night, that will be Awkward.

"So why were you going to Emmett's room?" Edward asked on our way to our rooms.

I guess we were still playing our game. "Well, I have always been afraid of storms. I can't sleep during them. It didn't help that when my parents were going through the divorce their fighting was at its peak during storms. Emmett always let me sleep in his room; it calmed me down enough to get some sleep. I guess tonight he would rather have a roommate that would entertain him than one who would jump at every thunder rumble and lightening crack."

"Oh, so are you going to be able to sleep tonight?" He asked.

"Umm...well…I guess I can try. Angela has Ben in there; she normally has him over when I am not there so after that fun conversation I should be ok. They will probably go to Ben's dorm, and I will put my iPod on high volume and try to forget the storm."

There was a loud boom of thunder as we neared his door and I involuntarily jumped.

"Do you want to sleep with me?"

I felt my face turn red, "e-excuse me?" He didn't…

He squeezed his eyes shut as he realized what he said, "I mean…I didn't mean that. I meant…would you like to sleep in my room? Jasper is spending the night at Alice's so I have the room to myself. You can sleep in there with me since Emmett's room is pre-occupied."

"Jasper doesn't like when people sleep in his bed." I reminded him, Jasper was very picky about his bed, I am sure he didn't mind Alice but no one else.

"I know, you can sleep in my bed, I can sleep on the floor."

"I can't let you sleep on the floor in your own room."

Edward opened the door to his room and I hesitantly walked in with him.

"I have no problem sleeping on the floor, I am NOT letting you sleep on the floor, now get in the bed."

"No." I said stubbornly.

Edward stepped in front of me and his face was just inches from my own, I could barely breathe, my heart started racing, "that wasn't a request, get in my bed." How do you do that breathing thing again? The look in his eyes... "Bella," he breathed, "breathe."

I took a ragged breath, and he smiled that crooked smile.

"I can't let you sleep on the floor."

He looked for a second, then a playful smile crossed his lips, "well then, I guess we are sharing."

I just stared at him for a second, he sighed took off his pants, pulled back the comforter, locked the door, shut the lights picked me up and brought me to his bed before I had a chance to object.

"Comfortable?" he asked after pulling the comforter up over us. My whole body was tingling. I was in bed with Edward Cullen.

"Yeah."

"Good, sweet dreams Bella."

"Goodnight." It was going to be a very hard to sleep, and I doubt it would have anything to do with the storm.


	14. New Authors Note

New Authors Note:

Well, those thirteen previous chapters were written by the amazing dreamscribbler (again, link in profile.) I wanted to thank her greatly for this awesome story, and for trusting me to continue writing it. The next chapter was a collaboration from herself and myself, she wrote half, and I wrote about half. So it'll be an extra long chapter for the transition. The chapter should be up by either tonight or tomorrow. Hope you enjoy it! =D

Loves!

Sarah


	15. Chapter 14

**Alright, so here's the new chapter. This is roughly half written by dreamscribbler and half written by me. So hopefully it's a smooth transition! Here goes;**

BPOV

I laid there in the dark unable to shut my brain off for at least ten  
minutes. I was trying my best not to move but every time the thunder rolled I  
would flinch and I was about 87% sure that Edward noticed, and though he  
didn't say anything.

I just couldn't stop thinking about Edward or the fact that I was lying in  
bed with him, or why on earth I wanted to move closer and wrap my arms around  
him. I am sure it is just because I was surrounded by his smell, and I was a  
little cold and I just knew that if I did move closer that he would keep me  
warm. That smell though…it was amazing, I couldn't put my finger on what  
it was but I had to fight the urge to grab his pillow and smell it, but he  
would think I was crazy.

I settled for turning on my side, facing Edward, so the scent was closer to  
my nose. I laid there and watched him as he slept. He looked so peaceful and  
beautiful, I wanted to reach out and touch his face to make sure he was real.

There was an intensely loud roll of thunder and I jumped and grabbed  
Edward's arm burying my head in his pillow.

"Whoa, you are really scared aren't you?" Edward asked sounding amused  
by my action. I just nodded against his pillow, I was now embarrassed that I  
had automatically clung to him when I got scared, hours ago I would never even  
consider it, and now it just seemed…I don't know…right. "What made you  
so afraid of them?"

"I don't know," I started, "I think I have always been afraid of  
them, but it got worse when my parents were having trouble. It seemed that  
their fighting would be worse when the storms were bad. Then it seemed that  
bad things were happening when storms came around. Our first and only dog got  
hit by a car in a bad storm, the night my Grandmother died there was a storm,  
the day my parents' divorce was finalized there was a bad storm…I guess it  
is an association thing."

Edward nodded, and I realized that I was still holding on to his arm, I felt  
my face warm up and let go and shifted my body away from him. "Sorry about  
that, I didn't mean to jump at you."

Even in the darkness of his room I could see his crooked smile, "no need to  
apologize, I really didn't mind." I could feel my face heating up and hope  
that the darkness was hiding my blush. His chuckling told me that it didn't  
so I went to turn away from him so he couldn't see my face. I felt his hand  
on my cheek holding my face so I couldn't turn away. When I looked at him he  
smiled and said so softly, "don't turn away, you look so beautiful when  
you blush."

I felt myself blush even more, he just called me beautiful. Edward's smile  
grew and he brushed my cheek with his thumb. I found myself staring into his  
eyes as the next roll of thunder hit, but this time I didn't jump, I heard  
it but I was too lost in Edwards touch on my face and his eyes that it was  
just background noise, nothing to be afraid of.

Edward continued to graze my cheek and I fought to keep my eyes open, but he  
started humming some song, I didn't recognize it but it was beautiful and I  
must have drifted off to sleep.

Jasper'sPOV

Alice had a 9 am class so I had to leave her room bright and early, I will  
never understand how she can be so cheerful at such unholy hours of the  
morning. It took me twenty minutes to make my way to my room since I was going  
about as fast as…well...my ability to think of something that is slow at  
9:20 am.

I wasn't sure if Edward would be awake or not, he wasn't as early of a  
riser as his sister but he still seemed to get up around 9:30-10ish every day,  
I have never seen him sleep past 10 in the entire time I have known him. I was  
quiet coming in the room and closing the door, and then checked to see if he  
was in bed still, which he was, with some girl.

Hold on…a girl? I paused and re-examined the situation. Edward never had  
girls over, he was never interested in girls here, he said they were all so  
arrogant and conceited, so why was there one in his bed now…and more  
importantly, who was it? I got a little closer so I could see her face which  
was partially hidden under her brown hair, and after moving her hair, gently  
enough not to wake her I saw the oh so familiar face of…no…it couldn't  
be…Bella?

How? When? But…she hated him! She has always hated him! Just the other day  
she was telling me that she hated him, and now she is in bed with him! What  
were you thinking Bella?!? What was Edward thinking? Emmett is going to…

My thought process was suddenly cut off by a heavy pounding at the door.

"Edward are you up man I have to talk to you." I hear Emmett's voice  
call out from the hall, well I guess we will find out what Emmett's response  
will be sooner rather than later. Do I let him in…NO, that would be wrong, I  
am not an idiot, nothing has changed since freshman year. Bella is still off  
limits, just like she was when I dated her, Edward is in more danger than I  
was then, but at least I didn't get caught. I can't hand them over to  
Emmett, Bella would kill me.

Emmett banged again and I noticed Bella shift, and tighten her hold on  
Edward, making him in turn tighten his hold on her, looks like they are cosier  
than I thought. Then I heard a very bad noise, the door knob, I forgot to  
re-lock the door when I came in, I panicked and jumped in bed like I was  
sleeping…fully dressed complete with my wet ROTC boots on.

The door burst open, "Edward I need your help I can't find Bel…" he  
paused, probably taking in the sight in front of them, Edward was dead for  
sure. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE!?"

EdPOV

I was, as usual, dreaming about Bella. It was not anything specific this time  
we were just together, going to the beach, and on vacation, kissing...we were  
on our way to…well…do a lot more than kissing when I heard a loud noise  
that woke me up and tore me away from my dream world.

I frantically looked around but my eyes landed on the moving form on top of  
me, which is when I remembered last night. Bella was sleeping in my bed, after  
she fell asleep she rolled on top of me, her head on my chest and her arm and  
leg draped over me, and hadn't moved again all night, not that I was  
complaining, I was more comfortable than I had ever been in my life.

She was now obviously waking up due to the loud noise that I had also heard  
but she was stretching first, her hands came to land on the side of my neck  
and a look of confusion swept her beautiful face, then she slowly opened her  
eyes.

"oh," she started to blush "sorry" she said in a low voice.

I just smiled at her, if she is embarrassed by that, I probably shouldn't  
tell her that she spoke in her sleep should I?

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"

I jumped hearing Emmett's voice and immediately looked in his direction.  
How could I have missed him being in the room? He looked like a bull ready to  
charge, and I knew exactly why. He just walked in and saw his litte sister, who  
he is way too protective over, lying on top of his best friend…well…I've  
lived a good life, right? I at least got to kiss the girl, even if I never got  
to date her.

"Emmett," I tried to explain, "It's not-"

"NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE? YEAH YOU HAVE BEEN TELLING ME THAT A LOT LATELY. YOU HAVE BEEN CAUGHT IN NUMEROUS COMPROMISING SITUATIONS WITH MY SISTER. I  
DON'T THINK I CAN BELIEVE YOU ANYMORE."

"But really we-" I was cut off again but this time it wasn't by Emmett,  
it was Bella.

"YOU, EMMETT SWAN, ARE SUCH A HYPOCRITE! Why is it ok for you to go have  
sex with one of YOUR friends sisters but your friend can't sleep with  
yours?" I was ever so grateful that she phrased that differently and hoped  
that Emmett picked up on that, unless she was trying to get me killed. "I  
mean that is quite the double standard. And you don't see Jasper here," I  
didn't even notice Jasper was here, "Busting through your door demanding  
an explanation when you did a hell of a lot more than we did, considering all  
we did was sleep"

"Don't be mad at me! I was worried about you when I couldn't find you  
this morning!" Emmett responded just as angry, just not as loud, "Then I  
find you in bed with my best friend who you claimed to hate?"

"Oh, you couldn't find me? You wonder why that is? Let's think about  
that one shall we? Every time there has ever been a bad storm ever I have  
always slept on the floor in your room, so I go to your room and find that you  
would much rather GET LAID THAN CARE ABOUT YOUR SISTER. SO DON'T PULL THAT SHIT ON ME! Edward who I used to have unfriendly feelings towards was kind enough to let me sleep in his room since my room was also preoccupied and my  
brother obviously doesn't give a shit about me."

That was a low blow, which she probably knew. Emmett looked crushed and just  
walked out of the room.

BPOV

I knew I shouldn't have said it, Emmett has always gone out of his way to  
protect and look out for me and saying that he didn't give a shit about me  
must have hurt him.

"You ok?" Edward asked me. I just nodded and pulled my knees up to my  
chest. "It could be worse," he started and paused for a second before  
continuing, "there could be…penguins?"

That brought me back to the dream I had last night where I was stranded in  
this cold abandoned place and there were penguins everywhere…I hate  
penguins…but how could he have known? I slowly turned my head to look at  
him.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

His face reddened in embarrassment, he clearly regretted his statement.  
"well…uh…you…uh…mentioned something about penguins in your sleep,  
and you didn't sound too happy."

Oh no. Oh no Please God tell me he didn't just say that I spoke in my sleep  
last night. I mean I had very PG dreams but I dreamt about Edward, and that  
means…

"What exactly did I say while I was sleeping?"

"Nothing bad," he tried to shrug it off clearly trying to avoid this  
subject.

"Edward, I will hurt you if you don't tell me."

"Bella I am not going to tell you, don't make a big deal out of this."

"I am warning you, I will get it out of you one way or another." His  
facial expression told me he was amused by my threats.

"I would take those threats to heart if I were you man, if she can take  
down Emmett she can take down your scrawny ass." I suddenly heard, reminding  
me that Jasper was in the room. "Now tell her and both of you shut the hell  
up cause I am exhausted, my back hurts from the dancing, and no one should be  
up this early."  
"You used to get up this early all the time freshman year when you started  
ROTC," I stated without thinking about the fact that maybe I shouldn't  
have known that knowledge around Edward (as far as Jasper knows), "didn't  
you?"

"Yeah, but that was not by my own free will, this time it is." He  
explained.

"You should take a hot shower if your back hurts, it will help relax the  
muscles."

"I think I really need a massage," Jasper said, and I knew he meant that  
I should give him a massage, but if he really thinks that I would give him one  
now he was out of his mind. I was about to tell him that when Edward joined  
the conversation.

"I don't think Alice would like it very much if she found out that your  
ex girlfriend was giving you a massage." He did not just say that, did he?

"YOU TOLD HIM?" Jasper yelled.

"I…I had no choice!"

"How the hell could you have no choice Bella?"

"He made me tell him Jasper, I'm sorry!"

"Edward, that was none of your business and you better not tell Emmett. I swear I'll-"

"Don't worry Jasper! Edward won't say a thing. Will you?" I gave Edward a stern look that told him there was no compromising here. He sighed in defeat.

"No, I will not tell a single soul, nor will I further mention it on any sort of occasion. Alright?"

"Good, I swear Edward- Emmett will kill anyone who he thinks even comes close to breaking rule number one. I love you Bella, but your brother can be one scary dude when he's mad." We all knew that Jasper meant only as friends when he said "I love you" but it apparently didn't stop Edward from stiffening as I felt him do so beside me. A blush rose against my cheeks at his obvious jealousy. More out of embarrassment than anything else, of course though.

Jasper was out like a light in no time after his last comment. Soon, an awkward silence was evident and I thought it best to leave. We had our 'bonding time' I guess, and now I decided it was over.

"Well…I'm going to go back to my room now…"

"No, I can see you're still tired." He draped an arm over my waist and tried to pull me back to him. I pulled away and I think he realised that the night was over.

"Sorry."

"No, it's alright. Thank you for last night…I mean with the storm. It was really nice of you, Edward. I had the wrong impression" And I really did, he was a much nicer guy and had way better morals than I ever gave him credit for.

"Don't mention it. I'll walk you to your room." This time, I didn't protest because I knew it wouldn't make much of a difference anyways if I did or not.

We walked down to my room and I opened the door. It was almost ten, but I knew that Angela and Ben would probably be gone for breakfast. I turned around to see Edward right behind me.

"Again Edward, thanks for everything. I'm sorry for judging you too. I guess you know what they say, you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover… So friends, right?" I figured after my 'it's not like we're friends' comment the other day, that this would be a step in the right direction for us. Did I just say us? Either way, I would have to get along with him from the looks of it in the future, but it didn't seem like it would be that hard.

I saw a little frown show up on his face, and again I felt the need to make it right- the need to make him smile again. No matter how deranged that part of my mind was, we were friends now…right?

"Yeah…friends."

"Well, Angela and Ben aren't here. I think I'm just going to grab my wallet and head out for breakfast. You want to come? My treat, it's the least I can do for you know, last night." He knew that I wasn't going to budge on it being my treat if he agreed from the look on my face. He gave me a disapproved look at this but nodded.

I went over to my desk to pick up my wallet and of course I found the one cord that I forgot to tape down (which is an unfortunate necessity for me so I WON'T trip on them) and start to trip. Edward grabbed a hold of my waist and tried to correct my balance, but unfortunately he was too late and we just ended up as a pile on the floor.

"Nice." I knew that I was clumsy, but I just couldn't help but comment on his right there.

"Me? You're the one who tripped on the cord in the first place Bella, in case you forgot." He said that with that crooked smile, and I suddenly felt much happier than before when he frowned. Why? I honestly could not tell you. Friends care about friends' feelings, right? Yeah. They do. Just then I realised that I had my back flat against the floor, and Edward was lying right on top of me. I looked up into his eyes and there surpassed an immeasurable moment. I rolled us over so I was on top, one of the many manoeuvres that I learned from wrestling Emmett.

EmPOV

I finally had some time to cool off, and Bella was right. I was being somewhat of a hypocrite. All things considered I should probably thank Edward. I was feeling really bad and I should have known that Bella'd need me in the thunderstorm. I went back to Edward's room to apologize to Bella.

I went up to Jasper and Edward's room, and I decided that it'd be better to wait for an answer when I knocked this time. I nocked twice, three times then I finally heard a groan coming from Jasper. I opened the door a crack and asked,

"Jasper, where'd they go?"

"I don't know! Just let me get back to sleep!"

Obviously he was still cranky from lack of sleep, so I walked down the hall to Bella's room. As I walked to the door, I heard giggles coming from the room. I never thought I'd walk in on someone before, but right then I was hoping that it was Angela and Ben. If it wasn't, Edward would be in a world of pain, and Bella would be in for one huge explanation.

I decided to cut my losses, and opened the door.

As it swung open the giggles got louder, and there were Bella and Edward rolling around on the floor with each other. _This_ could not be mistaken.

"WHAT. THE. HELL BELLA? EDWARD WHAT THE FUCK?"

I honestly came here to apologize, and I was right all along? They just froze, and looked at me stunned. Bella tried to start.

"Emmett-"

"NO BELLA. EDWARD DON'T EVEN START. I COME HERE TO APOLOGIZE, AND THIS IS WHAT I GET? EDWARD, WHAT ABOUT RULE NUMBER ONE? JUST BECAUSE I GET YOU TO KEEP HER AWAY FROM SOME OTHER GUY DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU CALL CLAIM OVER HER."

"EXCUSE ME, EMMETT? ONE- Rule number one is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my entire life. You're such a hypocrite and obviously that rule has been broken on several accounts. TWO I didn't lie to you WHATSOEVER. Edward and I are NOT dating- we are FRIENDS. Deal with it. You're the one who worked so hard for me to quote 'give Edward a chance' in the first place. And THREE, you have NO control over who I date. If I WANT to hang out with James- I WILL, you got that Emmett? I love you, but you need to calm the frick down!"

I understood most of her points, but there were still a few things left un-resolved. That, and there was no way in Hell that she was going to hang out with James Hunter. Anyone but that kid.

"How do you know about rule number one?" She started to fidget, and gave a side-ways glance at Edward. "Edward?! You TOLD her?"

Edward looked at Bella as she said to him "Now we're even?" I had no clue what she meant by that, but I had to ask.

"What are you talking about Bella?"

"Nothing!" They both yelled this at the exact same time, and I could only grow more suspicious.

"Alright. Straighten this out for me." I demanded. Ineeded more of an explanation of what was going on.

Bella replied "You were obviously too busy last night to stay with me during the storm, so Edward took me in. Jasper doesn't let anyone sleep in his bed and Edward wouldn't let me sleep on the floor- and I wouldn't let him sleep on the floor. That morning, you walked in. You freaked, and then left. Then Edward walked me to my room. I came in to get my wallet, then tripped. Edward tried to help me, but failed miserably. Then you came in, and now we're here."

I guess I'd have to accept that, although the giggling still didn't sit with me. "And everything else?"

"Alright Emmett. Rule number one is stupid. I'll date whomever I want, whether they're on your stupid football team or not. Lastly, if I want to go out with James- I will. I understand that you don't like him, but that's not really my concern. And you can stop asking people to spy on me too." I saw Edward's cheeks light up red when she said that- I would have laughed, if it wasn't for the look on Bella's face.

"James is a no, Bella. I forbid you to hang out with him. Forget about rule number one, fine! But you will NOT see that James Hunter. I don't care, it's an order!"

"You can't control what I do Emmett. Come on Edward- Let's go to breakfast." And with that she stormed past me out the door. Edward meekly followed and looked up at me questioningly.

"I don't care what I just said there, Edward- rule one is still in effect. You still have to ask me. And you better not make sure she never so much as talks to James Hunter again. That I'm putting in your hands." He nodded, then walked past me to catch up with Bella down the hallway.

**Sooooo…what did you think? I'm actually super nervous to find out what you guys say about it. I hope it was alright. Can you guess where dreamscribbler finished and I began? If you can't, then I did my job right I guess. If you can…that kind of sucks, but my writing style's a bit different so I'm trying.**

**Loves!**

**Sarah**


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N:** **I don't have a routine for posting- and I have only had one post previous to this of my own writings. I won't have a posting schedule either. This way, I don't feel guilty and horrible when I say I'll post something one day and then life happens, preventing me from posting. I do however promise that I'll have a post at least once every two weeks. I intend to update more than this, and you can pretty much count on that- but nothing's ever set in stone. Especially because sometimes things happen that you just can't predict.**

**Thank you a million times over to everyone who reviewed/alerted/favourited! I favourite you in my heart when you do so! And all the good feedback makes my heart swell!**

**Onward with the chapter!**

**Oh yeah,Disclaimer: Twilight isn't mine. Unfortunately. & this plot line was the original work of the amazing dreamscribbler (link in profile)**

BPOV

Being with Edward always surprised me. I seemed to always be surprised at the fact that it's so easy to be around him, to talk to him.

After we'd left the dorms, Edward drove us off-campus (in his stupid shiny Volvo of course) to some quaint little breakfast place that I hadn't been to before. Right when we got in, I was worried about the price of the place, it looked a little out of my student price range. I felt a little relieved, and a little embarrassed, when our menus came and I breathed a small sigh of relief because the place was relatively cheap.

The waitress that had served us was very nice, but she made her ogling at Edward a little too obvious. I wanted to tell her right to her face that he wasn't interested, I had a weird urge to show that he was _mine, _but I didn't and I couldn't- because he wasn't.

We talked for what seemed like hours, just about everything. I found out so much more about Edward. The more I found out, the more I realised I was wrong to have judged him before- and the more I was happy about that fact.

"So, Truth or Dare?"

"You're serious? Edward, it seems like all we do is play this game. Well, we never do choose dare anyways…" I trailed off as I popped a piece of waffle into my mouth with my fork.

"It's not like it's a bad game, _you'd_ probably think that I was some women-using snob if we hadn't in the first place." I knew he was joking by that crooked smile that I now secretly called my own, but I couldn't help with the blush that came from the embarrassment of how I treated him before. I wish I had of seen how wrong I was, a part of me was just upset that I'd seem to have wasted so much time.

"Alright. Dare, why not take a risk?"

Before Edward got a chance to reply to me, the waitress came over apparently to give us our cheque.

"I'm really sorry, but we're about to open up for lunch. Would you mind?" She motioned with her hand towards the door. At first I couldn't really understand what she wanted, but then I realised that myself and Edward had been at the breakfast place for at least a few hours. I guess I just really didn't realise how quickly time went by when I was around him.

We left the restaurant after I paid the bill (with a very disapproving look from Edward I might add, which was my favourite part of the meal). We walked along the street in no particular direction, why we didn't go back to the car I wasn't sure. Although, maybe I should just take advantage of the rare Saturday I get to have off campus. We walked silently, seemingly going nowhere for what seemed like so long. I wasn't bored. We didn't have to fill every single minute with sound; I didn't always have to keep conversation when I was with Edward. I liked it, whether it was because the silence almost started to become so comforting just knowing he was there, or the fact that I was comforted that I couldn't say something stupid if I didn't say anything at all- I wasn't sure. We occupied ourselves by looking around at the industrial landscape and architecture of the city. I kept sneaking sideways glances at Edward, I couldn't stop looking at him, only to find that he was doing just the same. I was in a constant state of happiness when he was around.

With a sigh next to me, Edward stopped and looked at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you want to head back? It's almost dinner time" I couldn't help the shock that came on my face when he said this.

"Oh!" I took out my cellphone and checked the time, it was nearly 5 o'clock already!

"Uhm, sure. I can't believe we've been out this long!" We turned around, and in no time we were back at his car. I waited for him to start conversation, because I wasn't sure if we were still enjoying the silence or not.

"If you want, you can turn on the radio. You probably won't like what I've already got in the cd player, browse in the glove compartement if you want."

"Alright" I took my time going through all his cds, being constantly impressed by how eclectic his taste in music was. Nothing that I saw really reflected the mood I was in, so I decided to just take my chances and press play to whatever was already in the stereo.

As I did this, familiar sounds started to emit from the speakers.

"You listen to classical?"

With a blush, he replied "..Yeah, if you don't like it you can change it. It's um-" and at the same time, we both said "Clair de Lune."

He looked over at me, and I could just tell he was surprised. "Hmm, so you like Debussy? I would have guessed that."

"And how would you have guessed that?"

"Well, you're obviously not one for parties, so you probably don't like either the amount of people, the behaviour or the music they play. I pegged you for all three, you don't seem to be too thrilled with the music for the Christmas show either. Lastly, you don't seem like your regular college student that would listen to post-hardcore, indie or rap."

"And what are you studding here?"

"I'm a music major- why?" Hmm, that must be why he's so eclectic with his tastes.

"Oh, I just assumed you'd want to be a profiler or something, the way you seem to be reading me."

"Naw, I'm just good at it. Interesting career choice that you'd peg me for though."

"Righht."

We pulled up to campus, Edward got out of the car and opened my door for me before I even had a chance to unbuckle my seatbelt. We were walking to our dorms and just as I was about to leave the parking lot, that damned motorcycle almost ran me over again! I didn't have any time to react, only falling backwards at my startle. Edward saved me again, cradling me in both arms. He wasn't looking at me though; he was staring at the motorcycle as it rode away muttering something under his breath. I recognised one of the words as a curse, but I couldn't make out anything else that he said.

"Um, Edward? Are you okay?" He pulled back his attention to me, and had the strangest look on his face, almost as if he forgot that I was there…being cradled in his arms.

"Am _I _okay? Bella, you nearly just got ranover by… By that motorcycle! You're asking me if _I'm_ okay? Are you okay?"

"Well, thanks to you I am!" I said with yet another blush as I awkwardly pulled myself up and out of his arms.

"Come on, lets get you back to your dorm before you nearly get yourself killed again." He held out his hand for me, as if he wanted me to take it. _I want to._ I found myself thinking, but all I did was stare at it awkwardly. He blushed _again!_ With smug satisfaction, I realised that I was making Edward Cullen blush. He realised I was just staring and then added awkwardly (again with the awkwardness!)

"Just a safety precaution…Never mind." He wend to replace his hand back to his side, when a burst of confidence came through me and I took his hand.

Walking across campus; if I thought we got looks together before- it was nothing compared to now, let me tell you. I almost sped up my walk, but I held back. We got to my dorm and I opened the door.

"I had fun today, Edward."

"Me too, thanks for breakfast. We should do that again sometime."

"Next Saturday maybe?" I meant as friends, and I'm sure he knew that. Right?

"Okay, we need to practice on our song too. When do you want to do that?" Oh, gosh! I completely forgot! I'm really going to have to start practicing, before practicing with Edward just so I don't make a fool of myself. Which I would do. I really hadn't had anything else to do today, so I could practice as soon as he left.

"Hmm, maybe sometime next week? I don't know, I'll see you around and we can figure something out."

"Alright. Goodbye Bella." He gave me that crooked smile again and turned around to leave, just then it hit me. I didn't want him to leave. I… I _liked_ Edward Cullen, and a heck of a lot more than a friend. Oh Shit.

"Uhm, Edward?" He turned around, and still had that smile on his face.

"Bye"

"Bye Bella." With that, he walked down the hallway, and I closed the door. I closed my eyes and turned the lock, leaning against the doorframe and sliding down until I was sitting on the floor. There was a huge smile on my face and I didn't even try to hide it. I liked Edward Cullen. A lot. A lot, A lot….And I told him we were just friends! Stupid, stupid me! I commenced the banging of my head on the back of the door just then. I heard a noise that sounded something like a footstep. I knew Angela wasn't here.

My eyes shot open just as he said "Don't hurt yourself Bella, that's my job."

Again. Oh Shit.

**A/N: So, who do you think's in her room? Any guesses? Thanks for reading, and a gold star to you if you read the monstrous A/N at the beginning of the chapter!**

**Reviews are love!**


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N: Here it is; tralala and happy reading.**

**Disclaimer: Severe angst warning- just kidding! Twilight is owned by the Stephenie Meyer (yes, I write a 'the' in front of her name)**

"Emmett? You can't honestly tell me that you waited here for me the whole entire time."

"Bella." He addressed me like I was some child. I raised my eyebrow at him, only to have him misinterpret the meaning.

"Okay, okay. I didn't wait here the whole time. Well, I kind of sat down on your couch after you left… and I um, sort of fell asleep." Now, it was Emmett that was backed into the corner and I couldn't help but stifle a laugh. Leave it to Emmett. Although, I knew that along with anger, would come severe tiredness. It was one of those weird quirks that he had, ever since we were little.

I remember once we were at a toy store that Charlie took us to for a treat. They just got in an entirely new shipment of nerf guns and Emmett went ape shit over them. He begged and begged Charlie for one in the store for at least an hour. Of course, Chief Swan wanted no sort of gun in his household, so he refused to give Emmett one. Emmett's case was thrown out, resulting in him kicking and screaming in the middle of the store. (Mind you, Emmett was about 8 at the time but he has always been large for his age- he looked about 11!) Imagine the on-lookers. But as soon as we got in the car, Emmett barely had time to put on his seatbelt after he hooked up my car seat before he fell asleep. In high school, whenever he'd be on the phone with a girlfriend arguing he would fall asleep while lying on his bed talking to her. Those happened to result in an even bigger fight the next day, so Emmett quickly learned not to talk on the phone while lying on his bed- or just not to fight with someone on the phone.

Now, with Emmett standing in front of me- I wasn't that upset at all. I knew that Emmett was always his most happy and reasonable after sleeping. Well, that and after eating of course. I decided that it was time to talk to him about things…

"Okay Emmett. Sit."

Emmett sat on the couch and we just kind of looked at each other for a moment. I knew we both owed apologies, and we were just waiting to see who would cave first.

"I'm sorry Emmett. I shouldn't have over reacted. I know you just love me and want to protect me. Okay?"

"I'm sorry too Bella. You're just the only Bella I've got." As he said this, he squirmed. He took after Charlie in the department of never wanting to share his feelings, but with me I made him suck it up. I would wrestle for him, and he would do this for me. We may bicker, but we still loved each other and cared more than anything about each other.

"James is a creeper." I could see the relief just flooding through his features as I said this. I think I could tell him that I wanted to sever a toe just then and he wouldn't have minded as long as I kept the same opinion of James Hunter. I continued.

"I don't want to date him. I won't want to date him. There's just something about him that I really can't stand. I was wrong okay? You were right."

"I take that back Emmett. Just because I say 'you're right' once, does NOT mean that you can have that smug look on your face. One time. You were right one time."

Emmett just leaned back next to me on the couch and folded his arms in a contented fashion.

"I'm glad that you understand that Bella. He's just not right for you. Or anyone for that matter. He's bad news."

"Now, speaking of other news though- you can't control what I do or whom I decide to date. If I date someone, you will meet them- eventually. You have an opinion that does matter to me Emmett, but you do not have veto power. Don't be discouraged, I know that face, your opinion means a lot to me."

He was looking at me with puppy dog eyes again. However, he has not mastered the look at it was easily deflected with a carefully composed glare.

"Bella, how can I protect you if I can't approve of them first? How can I protect you if I can't kick their ass? Come on Bella. If I let you date, will you let me meet them first?" I have to admit, he was playing a good game here. He was smart enough (apparently more than I gave him credit for) to change his tactics from when I last talked…or shouted with him. I figured the best solution was to go straight down the middle with this.

"How about this; I go on a date with him, and if I decide to go on another date with him- then you get to meet him. I think that's fair Emmett. I mean, I'm in college now and we're just figuring out dating for me?" Well, _we _were- it's not like I haven't dated anyone before, but Emmett really didn't need to know that. He deliberated for a moment and after watching the gears turn in his head, I finally saw something click.

"I think we can do that. But I want veto power, kido." He said this jokingly, although I knew he was more than serious. I decided to tell him what he wanted to hear regardless.

"Well, we'll think about that Emmett. Deal?"

"Deal…For now."

He stuck our his hand for a handshake and I took his hand just as I added in very quickly so he wouldn't notice too much, "And rule number one is void."

"What did you say Bella?" He asked me as we continued to shake hands.

"I said rule number one is void."

"…Void?" I could see the cringe.

"Yes, void Emmett. As in I can date whomever I want, whether they're on one of your stupid teams or not. Humph." I thought adding the 'humph' at the end was slightly childish, but it just happened to come out when I said it.

"Now, I'm very glad that we're at an understanding Emmett. Very nice doing business with you." I smirked

"Yeah, yeah. And Bella? Can I add one more thing to the agreement?" He looked rather sheepish, which was very rare for Emmett.

"Shoot."

"Knock on the door, okay?"

I squinted my eyes at him, communicating that I really wasn't sure what he was talking about. He shot back a very serious look. Oh. His door. His DORM door. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and I really did not want to have this conversation with Emmett. I most definitely did not need another discussion about the birds and the bees.

"Yes. Sorry. Never, ever, ever again." So began the awkward silence. Of course, Emmett didn't really notice and flicked on the television. He went to the news channel first to check the time as he usually did before he flipped over to whatever sports were on. Before he could get a chance to find any sports-

"Shit, I have to meet Rose in ten minutes! Bye Bells!" He grabbed my wrist and squeezed reassuringly before he headed out the door.

"Bye Emmett!" I said just as the door started to close behind him.

I was really lucky to have a brother like Emmett. He was there for me, and even though it might take some time for him to calm down about things, he always ended up reasonable about it. I sighed and changed the channel to something that I actually wanted to watch. I ended up watching some reality show about a guy having to choose between a bunch of women to marry. It was the final episode where he had to choose one to marry. He cried for the entire two hour episode. Now, I don't mind a guy showing his sensitive side- I encourage it in Emmett often- but that often? Every girl says they want a guy that can cry…just not a guy that can cry that much. I thought it was kind of a twisted way of finding love, on a television _game show._ Surely whomever he ended up picking, it wouldn't work out anyways.

After the show finished, Angela came home and she was definitely a sight for sore eyes. I don't know why, but it felt like it was a while since I'd seen her. Probably due to my seemingly monstrously long day.

"Hey Ang!"

"Hey Bella, whatcha up to? I picked up some sushi, there's enough for two if you want."

"What about Ben? Is he not staying over again tonight?"

"No, I think he's staying in his dorm for once." She blushed. "He's having a boys night."

"That sounds fun…Well for them I guess. How about we counter with a girls night?"

"That actually sounds awesome. I'd like that."

"Do you want to invite anyone else over? Or just us?"

"Would you mind just us tonight? I've got something I want to talk to you about." I knew Angela really well, so when I couldn't tell automatically what she was worried about- well, it got me worried too.

We picked out a few chick flicks and we got into our pyjamas and got ourselves comfy on the couch in front of the television with blankets. (not to mention that part of fixing the couch included flipping over the cushion the Emmett had apparently drooled on) We got to watching P.S. I Love You. I knew we both didn't want to be completely bawling, so we would talk during the film. We started of simple; the weather, (yes, we are most definitely that cool) her day, me telling her about the good news with Emmett, and then my day with Edward.

"So then Bella, Edward Cullen?"

"I'm sure I told you Angela."

"You did, but there's something different about you. Is it a new boy then? Or same one?" I unfortunately couldn't really get much passed Angela.

"Pinky swear?" I felt about 9 years old, but for some reason I still felt it necessary.

"Pinky swear." She hooked her pinky with mine, as I stuck out my middle finger on the same hand.

"Pinkies don't swear, remember?" Angela laughed and hooked her middle finger with mine, so we had all four of our fingers intertwined.

"I like him." I admitted, but quickly added "But I only found out today. I swear. I mis-judged him and he's not that bad." Angela just smiled.

"Now it's your turn. What's been bugging you?" I saw Angela's smile falter slightly, and I really didn't know what to say.

Angela POV!

I didn't know how to tell her.

I didn't know how to tell myself.

Ben has been seeming so distant lately, when we're together it seems like he's somewhere else completely. I'm usually so practical, but he's just making me go crazy.

"Well, Ben isn't really having a boys night tonight. Well, he probably is, but I'm not with him tonight because he wants to hang out with the boys."

"Oh." I heard Bella say, I looked up from my entangled hands and saw her blank face. I knew she wouldn't get it. She could get anyone she wanted. Hell, she had Edward Cullen praying at her feet. I saw the way he looked at her.

"Well hun, I think that he really loves you. How long has this been going on? Him avoiding you, I guess." I cursed myself that second, I knew Bella was an amazing friend and that she was always there for me and did her best to understand my situation.

"About a week, maybe more. I feel like he's not so much avoiding me- just avoiding eye contact, and contact in general. I don't know what to do. I'm terrified he's going to break up with me Bella, I love him." I could feel the tears in my eyes, and I could see that Bella was starting to tear up as well, and I knew it wasn't because of the movie. She was here for me.

"I don't doubt you Angela, but maybe you should give it more time. It's taken me years to be able to make Emmett 'talk about his feelings'" She rolled her eyes as she said the last bit with air quotes. "Ben will come around, I promise you. Try to talk to him, let him know you're feeling shut out."

I knew she was right. After talking with Bella for a bit more, and watching one or two more movies- don't forget also stuffing my face with sushi- I felt so much better. I knew that I was lucky to have a friend like Bella to always be here for me, through good and bad. Just as I would be here for Bella through the same, and through when she'd finally get together with Edward. I could see it in her eyes when she talked about him, and hopefully that was enough.

**A/N: I decided not to ensue torture with a cliffy today. Did you notice my certain television show subtle shout out? Anyone watch it? I was an addict for the entire season. Too bad it finished tonight.**

**Reviews are love- and just to let you know, I'm kind of a loser that likes to keep all the reviews I get. It's nice to get a confidence boost if I need it with a nice one, or to take my ego down a notch with fairly critical one. So thank you to everyone who's reviewed, I'd love if you continued. =D**


	18. Chapter 17

**A/N: I wanted to thank everyone again who reviewed last time, you guys are much to kind to me! Well most of you anyways =**P** I thought I'd just share some happy news with all of you- this story has reached over 2,000 hits! Also, over 150 Story Alerts! hmmm, and only just over 120 reviews? I love you guys anyways, but there's nothing better than hearing your lovely feedback. I even worked extra hard on this one to bring you up to just over 3,000 words!**

**I would also like to take the time to shamelessly plug the other story that I'm working on; Dare to Care? Which can be found on my profile.**

**Don't worry though- I've got plans for all these stories (Religion in french is for working on fanfiction, and Media Studies is for sleeping and working on my own two novels.) Nothing shall be neglected here!**

**Onward with the story! I'm excited to hear your feedback, a few important tidbits that are found out!  
**

BPOV

Was it weird that I almost felt free today? I felt like there used to be this great weight on my shoulders, and now it was finally gone. Maybe it was talking to Emmett yesterday, and the fact that the stupid, and idiotic, "Rule #1" was finally out the window. Whatever it was, I felt on top of the world… That was until I got up and realised I fell asleep on the couch with Angela last night. My neck was killing me. Angela must have gotten up in the middle of the night and gone to her room, because she wasn't here and there was a second blanket covering me. It was just the type of thing I would expect Angela to do, and I loved her because of it.

On my agenda today, I didn't have much. I wanted to go to the library and work on an assignment or two for classes and then I was going to try and work on the dreaded dance. Maybe also work on my singing? I couldn't help but always cringe at the thought of me singing, especially in tune. Either way I was going to work on some assignments today, so I got my toiletries bag and headed out of the dorm to have a shower. I was lucky enough to avoid any run-ins with any cameras or Edward today, but it was much harder to avoid the stares and glares that I'd been receiving the entire week.

After about an hour or so, I was back in the room gathering my books before I headed off to the library.

I decided to stop by and get a latte on my way; I figured that I shouldn't hold a grudge against the coffee. It wasn't its fault that it burnt me, right? It was, from what I'd gathered, both Jasper _and _Edward's fault. Even if it was long forgiven, and an accident. Jacob happened to be working, and for that I was glad.

"Hey Jake. My usual, to go please? Don't make it extra-hot though this time, I've realised that it's either my luck or my clumsiness that will make me thankful for that later." He just chuckled and gave me a nod as he started up my order.

"So what are you up to lately?"

"Well, I'm going out with Nessie after my shift. We're going to see some vampire movie that she wants to see. It looks stupid." He said as he wrinkled his nose in distaste. Of all the years I've known Jacob, he'd never fallen to any sort of fantasy fad, especially with vampires. His favourite movie was _Dances With Wolves_. He said it was because he loved Kevin Costner, but I always suspected it was for other reasons.

Just as I was at the counter looking through my wallet for some cash to pay for my drink, a foreign hand stretched out and handed the woman at the counter a 5-dollar bill. I saw the woman's face; she looked surprised at the person behind me, smiled invitingly at them, and then proceeded to glare at me. That's when I heard the awkward chuckle, and of course I knew whom it was. I turned around just as he told the woman at the counter to keep the change.

EPOV

"Stalker much?" She said this and giggled a little, and I couldn't help but love the sound of her laugh against mine. Like it should be. But wait, she was right. She was going to think I stalk her, how stupid am I? First I start with actually stalking her, mind you by orders of Emmett, but I see her ALL the time… I saw her across campus going in for a coffee, I owe her one. I'm sure she's just joking… I did owe her a coffee…

"Well, Bella. I did owe you a coffee, now didn't I?" I voiced my own thoughts, almost as Emmett seemed to do on a regular basis. Oh gosh, now I'm thinking like Emmett!

Breathe. Edward, stop freaking out!

I used to be fine around her, well when I got somewhat of a chance to be. It was just her vibe; it finally changed yesterday.

First, I thought she hated me- she DID hate me. Then, we moved somewhere near friends- friends is good, right? Well, yesterday I was getting the vibe of something more. It only makes sense for us to go in that direction right? I've been waiting for it for so long, and apart of me was terrified that she didn't want it, would never want it. I've felt the sensation of her lips on mine; I knew I couldn't settle for less. Now I was so close to the edge, so close to having her. I was starting to shake, starting to get excited, fidgety, scared, pumped. Like a sky diver on a plane, I could feel my senses dulling. That was my body setting up its defence, if it were all to go horribly wrong.

It was a long way down, but we both had to take the jump and make the fall. If we were lucky, we'd never get down off of the high.

"True, so what brings you all the way out to this side of the campus?"

"Oh you know... I was in the neighbourhood." I winked; she didn't buy it so I elaborated.

"I was just going for a walk, leisurely Sunday afternoon you know. That's when I saw you coming in. I knew I owed you a coffee, so I decided why not pay off that debt now? Also, this way you couldn't refuse." She seemed to be thoughtful at my answer, and while she was I led her over to the seating area and we sat down. Her on 'her' chair, and I on the edge of the sofa adjacent to it.

"Oh, I guess we're all even then." She said after a slight pause. I noted that she made sure she didn't put her coffee on the arm chair, but rather clutched it in her hands rather tightly on her lap, in between her legs. I couldn't help but laugh at this.

In response, she lifted one eyebrow. "Why are you laughing?"

I lifted up a hand and motioned toward her hands clutching the coffee. She blushed.

"You're holding it for your dear life, Bella!" I continued to laugh.

"Oh, and what do you suppose would happen if I didn't Edward?" She motioned around with one hand around us, laughing, obviously recalling what had happened just this past week. You could see a stain on the seat from the coffee. I felt bad for the poor kid who walked by not knowing that it was indeed coffee.

"You're very perceptive, huh?" I tilted my head to the side, which caused us to laugh out even more.

As we were laughing, all of the sudden we heard a very, very loud 'humph' from somewhere behind us. We immediately halted our laughing and looked over just as Tanya stormed past us, obviously angry and dishevelled. We stayed silent for a few moments until she yanked open the door, and even made the effort to slam it when she left. The second the door closed, we both looked each other square in the eye and couldn't hold it in, we laughed. It felt so nice to laugh with Bella. I couldn't help but again notice how amazing our laughs sounded together. Her soprano and my tenor.

Soon enough we finally started to let our laughing die down. We were welcomed with what I thought was a welcoming silence, but Bella was quick to end it.

"Well, I've got some assignments to work on… So I'm off to the library." She was leaving. Well, that didn't take a college degree, obviously, but she was departing from my presence. There I was wondering if I'd have to wait all day until I got to see her again tomorrow in class. Right then, I was struck with the most obvious idea. Why don't I just study with her? Surely I couldn't just invite myself, I'll see her reaction.

"I was planning on working on some of my stuff a bit later. I was going to just work in my dorm, but maybe I could join you. Have some company, so we're both not all alone?" She seemed to be contemplating my suggestion.

"Hmm, alright. Why not? I'm going to head off to the library right now. I'll meet you there then?"

"Well, can't we just go together now?" I saw her fighting a smile, and I wasn't sure what she meant by it.

"Edward… You don't have any books with you." Oh, how stupid must I look? Like I'll really be able to study with Bella right by me anyway.

"Right… I'll head to my dorm and get my stuff. I'll see you at the library.

"Later Edward."

"Hopefully sooner than that Bella. Bye"

"Bye"

We parted ways; her off to the library, and myself back to my dorm. I began to think about her while walking on campus. Everything, from the way her hair fell over her shoulders to the way her name sounded from my lips. I would do anything to be able to hear her say my name over and over and over.

I was quickly brought out of my reverie when I saw the motorcyclist. I swear, that guy _tried_ to run over every kid on campus he'd come by. I was keeping one eye on him as I was walking, almost trying to make sure that I could help anyone if the situation needed assistance, or at worst be a witness. The guy on the motorcycle was pulling up his bike next to one of the dorms. I was just glad it wasn't mine or Bella's, something about this guy just didn't sit right with me. As he pulled up to the dorm and got off his bike, he started to take off him helmet. I should have known, I really should have known it was him.

James.

Who else? Who else would be so twisted to try and KILL students while riding his motorcycle? Who would be stupid enough to drive or even ride on one of those things to begin with? You could get yourself killed easily on one of those things. I'm no wuss, but I'd die before I'd buy one of those. I made an extra mental note to keep Bella away from him especially, and kept walking to my dorm. Fists clenched, mind you

The walk seemed to go by faster than before, maybe it was because I was still running off the high of being with Bella. Or maybe it was that I was still wearing off the fury of figuring out that James was the crazed motorcycle rider. It didn't really matter either way.

When I got to my room, I opened the door to find both a very 'cuddly' Jasper and Alice. Neither of which surprised me. I was hoping to go by un-noticed as they seemed to be watching some movie on Jasper's laptop on his bed. I almost felt like I could be interrupting something, but I just reminded myself that it was my room too.

Unfortunately, I was just about to leave when Alice decided to address me.

"Edward, how's the girlfriend?" she giggled a little, and Jasper stifled a laugh. Of course he thought she was somehow cute when he said this. No, I don't think there could be someone better for my sister than Jasper, but no I don't want to see my sister being all coupley with my best friend. That's right, I want my cake and I'm going to eat it too.

I sighed "She's not my girlfriend, Alice." I grabbed the doorknob, ready to leave without argument.

"Yet." Yet, I repeated in my head.

"Un huh" is what I replied out loud though. I was just about to leave

"And Edward! Don't forget to tell Bella that you guys have to practice, okay? Right when you see her now, tell her that you're going to practice this week!" I stopped bothering to try and figure out how she knew these things, I just accepted that she seemed to know everything.

"Sure thing Alice, anything else?"

"Uhm, I'm done. For now. Shut the door on your way out?" Ugh, I would much rather leave it open, thanks. You're my little sister, remember that. I just turned around and gave Jasper a stern look. I didn't mind him dating her, but I still had an advantage that I wouldn't miss playing up.

"Jasper."

"Edward" he mocked my formality.

I left and rolled my eyes. Half annoyed, and half amused.

When I walked back to the library, it seemed like it took me twice as long to get there. It was getting into the evening, and I couldn't help but wonder if Bella had eaten dinner yet. I didn't want her to go hungry, so I picked us both up some chicken burgers on the way. I didn't know what she liked, but I figured that everyone likes chicken burgers- right?

I got to the library, and after scanning all the tables on all three floors I still couldn't find her. I was starting to get frustrated, and finally decided to look down the aisles. It was down the Ancient Malaysian Cookware aisle in the library. I didn't even know that they had a section that contained Ancient Malaysian Cookware, never mind a while section and aisle dedicated to it. Bella was sitting in the very middle of the aisle, with her book spread around her in a semi-circle. She looked adorable with her brow furrowed in concentration. I decided to play a little trick on her.

I walked down the aisle and stood right in front of her, her head bent down staring at her book level with my knees. I coughed loudly and Bella shot up and got an instant blush on her face.

"Excuse me; do you know where I could find the book about the Ancient Malaysian cooking pots? I have a huge paper due tomorrow on them, and I'm stumped." She blushed further and backed up against the books. I couldn't figure out why, but then it hit me. She was standing level with…well, her head went up about a foot from when she was bent over… so she was now head level with 'the area.'

I quickly stepped back, and mumbled an apology before sitting down next to her. Mind you, I sat about a foot away now. I decided to start over.

"I brought us dinner. Do you like chicken?"

"No." She rolled her eyes, obviously accepting the start-over, "Of course I don't like chicken." She said sarcastically as I handed her the burger.

We ate silently for a few minutes, then realised we didn't have much to talk about. We started studying. I don't know whether it was two minutes or two hours until I broke the silence, but I couldn't not study anymore. Just the energy that I could feel she was giving off was enough to almost make me explode.

"You still owe me a dare." She looked up, almost surprised to hear me talk, as if she had forgotten that I was ever there. I felt a little pained at that thought, but trudged on.

"So, what should I dare you? You like risks? Or should I just dare you to give me undying servitude?'

"That's not a dare! 'undying servitude' that's the lamest dare I've ever heard!"

"Fine, I dare you to kiss me again." I didn't even get a chance to filter that before I said it. Leave it to me to ruin the moment with Bella. Her mouth had formed and 'O' and all the sudden, I realised that we weren't a foot away from each other anymore. Somehow during the time while we were 'studying' we had ended up right next to each other.

"Do you want me to kiss you again?" she blushed and looked down.

I couldn't help but lift her chin up to look at me with my index finger. Her face was much too close to mine now. I breathed a "Yes." And her eyes closed. We leaned in, then-

"BELLLL-UUHHH" We jumped apart. I cursed Emmett in my mind, I knew that voice and he always seemed to have the worst- or most perfect timing. I guess it depended on his or my perspective. Rule #1, fuck my life.

We quickly tried to brush ourselves off, as if the lust were a visible dust that had fallen on us during our almost-was moment. Soon, Emmett came into the aisle and looked relieved.

"Oh, good! I don't have to look for you; I needed to get a book from this aisle anyway." I tried my hardest not to laugh while Emmett seriously studied the shelves and ended up checking out three of the books from that aisle. Bella and I seemed to act like nothing had happened, although I wasn't sure if she was acting like that because Emmett was there- or because she didn't want anything to have happened. I felt like the sky diver again, ready to jump- but afraid to do it alone.

The walk back to the dorms was quiet. Well, I was quiet- and Bella was quiet. Emmett was going on about something or other that neither of us was listening to. We seemed to get back to the dorm in no time. By then, it had started to rain. It wasn't thunder storming, but none the less, I was still worried about Bella.

Emmett parted ways with Bella and me at our floor, and I walked her to her door.

"Will you be okay tonight?"

"Yeah, it's just rain. No lightning or thunder, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" At this, she lifted her hand up and cupped my cheek.

"Thank you Edward, goodnight."

"Sweet dreams Bella."

**A/N: Don't you just hate Emmett?? Well, I thought that I'd give you guys a little extra Edward this chap because a few people were a little sad that he didn't make an appearance last chapter. **

**Whaddya think?  
**


	19. Chapter 18

Normal 0 !-- /* Style Definitions */ , , {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} 1 {page:Section1;} --

**APOV**

"Jasper, I'm just going to freshen up in the bathroom. I'll be right back!"

"Alright, and then I'll walk you back to your dorm. I'm sure Edward wouldn't be incredibly thrilled to have his sister sleeping with her boyfriend in the bed next to him all night, Alice."

"I'll be good!" He simply lifted one eyebrow, and I knew he could easily see through my thinly hidden façade. "Fiiinnee" I elongated the word much longer than it really needed to be. I grabbed my spare toiletries bag that I kept in Jasper's room and headed out, letting Edward in the room as I left.

"Hey Edward," I called behind me before I heard the door close. I faintly heard him reply as I walked down the hallway.

I entered the prep room and I could see Bella at a mirror, appearing to be doing nothing at all. I saw there was an empty one beside her, and decided to occupy it. When I walked up to the mirror, I immediately took out my brush and started to brush my hair as if I hadn't noticed her at all. This would be fun.

I glanced over at her, and dismissively said "You're flushed."

"Wha-What? Oh, I uhm… I'm always you know, uhm blushing." I decided that was enough. I let my hidden smile come out and I turned 90 degrees so I was directly facing her.

"It was my brother wasn't it?" I love asking questions to answers I already know the answer to. Her face had Edward's name all over it, even if they aren't dating yet. Mark my words, soon enough many of her body parts will have Edward's name written all over it. As if she could read my mind, her face only turned a deeper red.

"Yes'm" I couldn't help but laugh as to how she just addressed me.

"So then, if you call me ma'am, does this mean you have to follow my orders?" She was giggling with me now, apparently realizing that she had called ma ma'am.

"I don't know, what would these orders include?"

"Well Bella, you know that new wardrobe we bought for you?" Her eyes widened at this. "I order you to actually WEAR said clothes. Here you are thinking that I wouldn't notice that you go through your closet to try and find the last few pieces of your own clothing to wear. Tsk tsk tsk." I shook my head in, not so much, mock sadness.

"I thought I wouldn't have to come to your room EVERY day to dress you, but I guess I will. We may even have to go shopping again so we can get rid of every single one of your old pieces of clothing."

"Fine Alice. I'll start wearing the clothes you picked out for me, okay? I promise"

"Well Bella, it's a little late for that. Besides, I enjoy playing Bella Barbie."

"Please, please don't get used to it?" She said with what I could only imagine was her best puppy dog face.

"Not a chance." I pointed over to one of the benches in the center of the room and gave my orders. "You. Sit. Now."

Bella sat down onto the bench, and I could tell that she was a little scared of what I was about to do next, although she really shouldn't be. I decided that we were over due for some Bella-Alice bonding time, that's all. I took out my brush and started to brush her hair in languid, long strokes. I could sense her smile and her breath of a sigh.

"So, how's Edward?"

"He's your brother." I smiled at how quickly her mood seemed to bounce back.

"Yeah, but you're the one who's dat- I mean, you see more of him than I do."

"Oh, I guess he's fine. What do you want me to say?"

"Well, I want you do admit that you love him." I said simply. She whipped her head around and had that blush on her face again. I decided to cut her off before she could even start.

"You're flushed again."

I heard her 'humph' and turn back around, letting me continue to brush her hair.

"I thought so." I knew that she didn't love him. It was just another yet. I knew she was falling, and he's been halfway to the ground for a while now. As usual, it's left up to me to get it done.

"You know, for the pixie you are, you're being relatively calm right now. I mean, I thought you never stopped- especially after the shopping trip you know." I realized that she was right. There was something about Isabella Swan that made me, I almost shivered at the realization, calmer. Was this even possible, Jasper always called me his little 'loose cannon.' He was usually so good at calming people down, but I was never one of them.

Maybe Bella Swan could bring this out in me, but I was sure it was only temporary. I would be back to myself soon enough, I just needed some time to talk to Bella while I was in this state.

"Well, I wouldn't get used to it."

"Darn, I was just starting to."

A/N: Yeah yeah, I know it's been a while. I still love you and this story anyways though- and I hope it's still likewise? =P Over 12,000 hits! keep 'em coming!


	20. Chapter 19

Monday morning. I now must get up and go to class again.

I really didn't want to, I was afraid that the entire weekend was a dream or some kind of fluke. It was much too perfect. Well, to be quite honest it was perfect sans Emmett.

Edward wanted to kiss me again. He likes me. He really does. I mean, I really don't have much experience with guys at all. I mean, the boyfriend here or there for a few weeks or months in high school- and of course Jasper. Other than that though, I was pretty much at a loss when it came to the opposite sex. My first instinct was still to just think that he was a player and I was just another one of his pawns. Just another girl that's lucky enough to be given the privilege of entertaining Edward Cullen for a while.

NO.

That's not who he is. I know it's not. Maybe I'm just naïve and will believe what anyone tells me- but I know that it's not true. There's something about him that with every well delivered line he hands me, with every statement laced with charm- he's being 100% sincere. There's almost a desperate look in those green eyes of his for me to believe him. For me to never leave when he asks me to stay.

I continue to go through the motions of this internal debate as I finish up my shower and head back to my room. Who there do I find? None other than Alice, once again raiding my closet. I could suspect already that she'd had about 5 espresso shots this morning. I'd have to remind myself to tell Jake to cut her off.

"Back to your usual self I see."

"Yeah, I don't know what got into me Bella! I almost sat still for an entire 5 minutes there. Anyways. So you're going to wear this today. I decided to go with a concept, what do you think?"

She held up a hanger that had the entire outfit hanging off it. It was definitely a concept, can someone say Blues Brothers? She had me ready to wear a black pair of trousers, a purple v-neck ¾ shirt with a black vest overtop to match the trousers. That, of course, wasn't what made it Blues Brothers. It was the fedora on the hook of the hanger, and the Ray Bans hanging in the "V" of the shirt. I would make Jim belushi proud.

How could I say no to something like this? The only think I was a bit iffy on were the RayBans. They didn't exactly come cheap. I tried to mention this to Alice, forgetting she was a Cullen, and she of course waved it off as if it was nothing saying she got a deal on them anyways.

Alice left as soon as I was dressed, warning me that I better not change. Unfortunately, she had also made sure that I was wearing black pumps along with my outfit. I won't lie, I did look badass, but I still had a bit of a hard time walking.

There was a knock at the door just as I was about to head of for class.

EPOV

I figured Bella would have already left for class, but I decided to try her door anyways. It was a poor attempt, I was nervous and most of me wanted her to not be there.

I silenced that thought as soon as I saw her. It always re-struck me every time I saw her how gorgeous she was. I noticed she seemed to be a little bit taller than I'd remembered, so I looked down at her feet. Heels. I couldn't have been more happy, yet more of a jerk at the same time. Bella's clumsy, to say the least. She wouldn't be able to handle the heels, and I would inevitably have to catch her every time she fell. I would show her that, that I would be the one to always catch her. Me. I could be all she ever needed.

I looked back at Bella with my mouth pulled up on one side. I saw her cheeks turn that shade of red again and realised how stupid I was. Again. And again. And again. She thought I was giving her 'the up and the down'

"Sorry.." I said what I'm sure came out as rather sheepishly.

BPOV

Why not?

He was here, standing at my door. I wasn't sure for what, maybe walk me to class? That's so cute. I couldn't help but blush every time I saw him.

I think he just gave me 'the up and the down.' Wow, I wouldn't figure him for that kind of guy. Well, now that I know him better. And then he apologises? I can't seem to understand. Why would he apologise for checking me out? Does he not realise that like him too, and that I would let him objectify me all day long, as long as I could do the same? What I wouldn't give to be able to just have hours of silence with him, memorizing every curve and edge to his feature, every speck of colour in his eye. Figure out the exact shade of green they were. I almost had hard time not taking out a paint chip palate to figure it out on a regular basis.

The dare.

Why not? I might as well do it before Emmett comes in and ruins the moment like he always seems to do. I'm going to have to ask him to give me his copy of my room key. I'd change the locks, but I'm still in a dorm.

So I looked at him, and glad I hadn't put my sunglasses on yet, I leaned in and kissed him. No response…Wait, wait, apparently I just caught him off guard. He slowly began to give me feedback, and when he did it was like the Fourth of July, Fireworks. Jumping into a cold pool on a hot summer day. Running a mile, and then stopping to breathe. Kissing Edward Cullen, really kissing him this time because I wanted to- it was heat and passion, caring, shock and like breathing after being deprived of oxygen.

When we separated, we looked at each other, out of breath. My eyes matched his and I knew we were completely in sync for at least that moment. He spoke first.

"Your turn." I raised an eyebrow, and he furrowed his in concentration, and then spoke again.

"Dare." His eyes bore into mine, and I could see the cogs turning in his mind, he was trying to send me some telepathic message. I received it.

"Edward. I dare you to kiss me again."

He flashed me his crooked smile again before he followed through.

* * *

**A/N: Alright, it's a ittle shorter this week, but he week's been crazy and there was no way I wasn't going to post,**

**Tell me what you think!**


	21. Chapter 20

EPOV

She was perfect.

It was all her little nuances and quirks that made her that way. The fact that she couldn't walk ten feet without stumbling. The fact that I noticed it was 5 when I was around. Her eyes, they sparkled whenever she would think of something clever to say, and because of it you always knew it was coming a second before it did. She laughs freely, but it's the smiles that you have to earn. I would work a thousand days as a slave in Egypt just to see that smile once.

Hopefully, she'll let me be hers, and I'd follow to the end of the earth. Every day I've talked to her, having her finally like me. I just started to fall in love with her, and the more I get to know her I can only love her more.

I wanted to ask her to be my sun and my moon.

I wanted to ask her to be my air, be my life in every breath

I wanted to ask her to be my wife, to have and to hold.

I wanted to ask her to be with me for eternity, whatever that would mean.

I wanted to ask her to lift this veil of cowardliness that I uncooperatively wear whenever I'm around her because I'm terrified what she'll say or that she'll leave.

But because of that, I instead asked her this.

BPOV

"Walk you to class?"  
I looked up into those green eyes and I was lost. I was completely lost on him. I was so euphoric in that moment I felt like I had everything I needed, right in those two eyes. I couldn't regret taking that leap, no matter what he decided to do with me now. I would let him catch me when I fell. Him. He would be all I ever needed.

"I'd like that, thanks."

Edward and I walked to our class. Still, no matter what I just felt with him, I was a bit hesitant. You will always be hesitant when possibly entering a new relationship, and I had just hit that phase. I knew he could sense my feelings, and I was grateful that he didn't push it and walked beside me a little farther away than usual.

Of course, the stares that I'd almost (lie) gotten used to came as usual when we entered the room together. Edward started walking toward his regular seat, but I didn't want to intrude again and make everyone shift over for me. It was silly, and I didn't need some sort of special treatment. I mumbled a 'thanks' to Edward and went to go sit at my usual seat. I realised that I sounded like I'd thanked him for the kiss, blushed then turned around to re-phrase.

"I didn't mean-" just as I started, I saw a thinly covered expression of disappointment on his features.

"You're not going to sit with me again today?"

I answered him sheepishly, "Well, I knew it was about James the other day, and I don't want to make a fuss or anything or put anyone out of their place…" I started to ramble as he stopped me.

"Bella, for you it's never trouble. But if you'd rather not have any more attention attracted towards you, I understand and am in full support of you sitting wherever you wish. Even if it's on my lap." He had to add that in at the end, and I couldn't help but blush further and let out a small chuckle.

"Thank you" I said as I started to turn around to go to my regular seat.

Just as I was turning, I saw his crooked smile from the corner of my eye and hear him promise, "As you wish."

I caught the proff's eye on my way to my seat and they were gleaming. I wasn't sure why he was so concerned with Edward or me, but it was definitely something that I wanted to know. Creepy.

He started his lecture and I started to feel a stare, and then heard someone breathe heavily behind me. I only needed to know the former to know it was James. Edward started to stare at me, I hadn't really taken my eye off him all morning and he met my gaze. I saw his eyes flicker with what looked like fury and worry, I wouldn't have been sure if I hadn't known James was right behind me.

I know that James was attractive, and I used to have a little thing for him but I decided to cut my losses. I decided to make fun of him, reject him, and claim myself to Edward all at the same time. Of course, I had decided to put all my eggs in the Edward basket. I figure he wouldn't crack them.

So I quickly scrawled, on a post-it that I had, a note to James and turned around only to be startled that he was actually less than a foot from me staring. Literally breathing down my neck. I gingerly handed him the post-it note and turned back around, pulling my chair closer to my desk to make it harder for him to assault me.

My laptop that I had brought to class today to tape the lecture had gone into sleep mode. Because of this, I was able to angle the screen and see the reflection of James behind me in the screen. As I watched, James crumpled up the paper, and piled his books. Before he got up, he looked directly at me from the reflection and gave me a look so vile that I had to gasp. I quickly caught the attention of those around me, including the teacher and Edward and I was asked by both (the teacher vocally, and Edward silently) if I was alright.

More attention, and more blushing for me. The comic relief only came when James went to leave the lecture and realised that the doors were locked until it was over. Everyone in the class turned around to laugh and look at him as he yanked the doors, but they continued to fail to open. He quietly went back to his seat and leaned back, as far from me as possible, for the rest of the class.

Before I knew it, the day had flown by and Edward and I were taking it slow. He walked me to one or two of my classes, and we easily filled the time with effortless conversation. We were supposed to meet tonight so we could start working on our dance for the Christmas show because Alice had booked the auditorium for us.

As I got home after classes, I changed into some yoga pants and a tank top that I could practice in with Edward. I would avoid skimpy outfits as long as possible. I wanted to practice some on my own before I met with Edward, so I left for the auditorium about an hour and a half early, it was free for the entire day so I would be all alone in there. I grabbed a heavy sweater just in case on my way out of the dorm.

I walked out onto campus and I didn't waste any time with pulling on my sweater. Goose bumps were ever apparent and were a quick reminder of how cold it was becoming outside. It was coming closer to winter, too quickly I might add.

I got to the auditorium in what seemed like forever. Whether it seemed like forever because it was so cold, or because I wasn't with Edward I really wasn't sure.

I wasn't that knowledgeable about the sound system they used in the auditorium, never the less completely clueless about where the booth was to begin with, so I had gotten a cd player to use from one of the green rooms. One of the techies would probably have killed me if I had touched any of their technological thingies in the first place anyways.

I put the cd in and played the track. I was glad that Alice had chosen the version from Elf to sing, rather than the original. I personally liked it better. I pressed play on the player and heard the intro start to play. I started to sing quietly and sway my hips to the music. I felt comfortable in that moment on stage, there were only two backlights that were left on so for the audience right now only my silhouette would be shown. I knew all the lyrics and I began to belt out the notes, missing a few on the way mind you, even mimicking the guy's part in a mock baritone

I was happy.

I was able to just let go and put it all out there with my voice, and put it all out there with Edward. I used to keep so much to myself and I was so glad that I was finally starting to be able to show a completely different side to who I was. It was so incredibly liberating and it gave me a feeling of pure ecstasy.

I started to think of Edward as I sang and I knew he would be here shortly. As I imagined him kissing me, I swore that I could feel his arms encircle me from behind, wrapping me in a loving embrace. I doubted my imagination was that realistic, so I turned my head and there he was. I blushed wondering exactly how long he was watching me.

"Hi Edward."

**A/N: Yay, another chapter. Sorry for the chapters of fluff. (I know, I can't really believe that I just apologized for that either) But there are quite a few more things that need to be wrapped up before the story ends. Life has been incredibly busy the past couple weeks, but I've kept my Word page always up so every time I walk by or have a few minutes I can sit down and work on the next chapter.**

**I am, however, reaching down to Cleveland this weekend so I most likely won't be able to update. Speaking of which though, I was wondering if anyone lives or knows the Cleveland area well and would be willing to tell me about some cool places to check out? Maybe some good restaurants, or some cool vintage stores I can check out? Or just stuff that a tourist might like ;P Yeah, there's the Rock'NRoll Hall Of Fame, and I hear there's an aquarium? I'm not sure what else though, sorry. But yeah, anyone who knows Cleveland would be an incredible help to me. Especially because I'll be in total foreign land, hahaha. Well, I just have to remember that a mile is longer than a kilometer and I'll know my walking limits.**

**Lots of love, thanks for reading- maybe a review?**

***update* alright- I have something that I would love 100x more than a review. It has come to my attention that one of my favourite bands is doing a contest and they'll come and play a set at my school. I live in Toronto and this is where this band is from .(Down With Webster) So, they've decided to have the contest be a facebook group for each school that wants to join and the one that gets the most number of people by may 10th wins. Sooooo, while you're all logged into Facebook during the next week, until the 10th (Sunday I believe), I would LOVELOVELOVE if you could join this group. They're also booked to Warped Tour this year (congratz guys!) , so you've got a good chance to see them if it comes to your city!**

http://www(dot)facebook(dot)com/group(dot)php?gid=9352198 7144

**And, I've decided that if my school ends up winning the contest, I will update once a day for an entire week. That's alot of updating, and I obviously really want to win this. I know that alot of people read this story, and I know that alot of you probably have facebook. Two seconds of joining a group- and you get an entire week filled with goodie updates. Haha, I know. I'm crazy. I would just really love to have them play at my school. If that link doesn't work, I"ll post another link in my profile and the name of the group.**


	22. Chapter 21

EPOV

She was simply glorious. To be quite honest, even though her voice was beautiful, I never thought she'd have enough rhythm or timing to sing. I was wrong, and I was surprised that Alice could detect that in her. I watched for a few minutes, finally feeling guilty with being a creeper and decided to approach her. I didn't want to disturb her, I didn't want her to stop. I decided to encourage the singing by wrapping my arms around her lovingly, and just swaying behind her. At first she jumped with fright, but she quickly recognised my body, and melted into my chest.

After the song had finished she addressed me, "Hi Edward," She sounded a little out of breath, but she had stopped attempting to sing the male parts once she had realised I was there.

"Bella," I replied

"So...uhm, how long have you been watching?"

"Not long..." I lied with non-chalance, deciding that the cliche would be fitting.

"I see... Well, I'm not that great of a singer- and I'm a much worse dancer, so I'd guess we should work on the bigger challenge first?" She jumped away from me as spoke, putting that distance there for more than the second time that day. I would wait.

"Alright then, let's start on your dancing. Do you want to play that again? First I'll teach you rhythm. It's something that most people have naturally-you obviously don't. Say it with me now RHY-THM" She blushed and smiled, I had reached my goal.

"Thank you very much Edward. I know what rhythm is. Now watch what _I _do." She started to walk across the stage, and I was at a complete loss as to what she was doing. I gave her what I could only assume looked like a bemused expression.

"It's called walking, Edward. It's the art of moving one foot in front of the other _without _being a hazard to anyone around you or spilling their coffee on them. Say it with me now, WA-LK-ING"

"Very funny Bella. But you're the one to talk about walking without being a hazard to anyone. I was pushed, you on the other hand could trip on a toothpick two feet away." I shot back with a grin that I knew would convey my win.

She got the message because she crossed her arms and let out a 'humph' sort of sound. If she wasn't so cute while doing it, I wouldn't have been able to stand it. Either way, I went up to her and uncrossed her arms and pulled her into a hug.

"Let's just get to work okay? Regardless, you still need to get the rhythm of this song down missy."

Sounding more like a two year old than the real thing she replied, "fiiine."

I pressed play on the stereo and walked back to Bella, swaying my hips as I did so. Her lips twisted and squirmed, obviously fighting back a laugh. When I got to her I put a finger over her lips, halting the movement. I then set my hands onto her hips and aided her in moving to the beat. Every once and a while she would think she got the hang of it, but move her hips the opposite way and I'd have to correct her lightly. I had made sure to put the cd player on repeat, so we wouldn't be greeted with any awkward silences.

It continued on like this for some time, slowly graduating to dancing, with one hand on her hip and the other with her hand in mine. We must have been there for hours, but she had improved immensly. We were really making improvements, I could spin her now with only the slightest stumble. I looked over at my watch and realised that we'd been here much longer than we should have been.

It was almost midnight, so I took Bella's hand from mine and motioned for her to look at my watch. She gasped in surprise, so I gave her half a grin and asked

"Walk you back to your room?"

**A/N: Yeah, so I've written better. I'm getting back into routine postings now, so it shouldn't be too long now that exams are (finally!!!) over. Hope your summer's started off better than mine =D! (I'm sick!)**


	23. PLEASE READ

Hello everyone,

First of all I'd like to apologize- I've been near computerless these past few months and havn't been able to get to a computer. I was, however, under the impression that I would continue writing on a regular schedule once I got full computer access back, and school had started.

Another 'unfortunately', my schedule has become insanely hectic this semester. I have four subjects in school, a night course and an online course, two extra curriculars that I'm heading, two other extra curriculars I'm apart of, I need to write and direct another play this year that will go on to compete with other schools in my district (hopefully!), I'm trying to start an improv team at my school (I recently found out they have competitions in my region), and while doing all that I have a part-time job that I work 4 shifts a week at, and of course studying for my SATs on Nov 7th. (Yes, I am in Canada, but I'm applying to some schools in the states therefore require them)

So, as that entire paragraph was not a hyperbole or an exaggeration, I'll have a little bit of trouble juggling two stories. (I still plan to do my best on Dare To Care though) but I won't be able to continue this fanfic.

So, as we come full circle and with irony- I had taken over this fanfic because dreamskribbler wasn't able to continue because of school- now she has graciously offered to do the same for me.

I thank you all for reading this, and accepting me as the new writer when I was- not I'm sure you'll be contented to read her wonderful work again. The link to her profile can be found on my profile.

Happy reading,

Sarah


End file.
